1. What you think matters; it has consequences that can be positive or negative depending on the nature of your thoughts. Remember also that thought precedes action. Check your belief system: is it life enhancing or life destroying? 2. Hatred only begets hatred. Contempt begets contempt. The best definition of love is acceptance. If you want peace and love in the world, then send out thoughts of peace and love. Besides, hatred is an attachment: it ties you to the object of your hatred just as love ties you to the object of your love. Let it go – and you will be free. 3. The creative energy that is in you is also in your fellow man. If you truly recognize that principle, then you won’t hurt another in deed, word, or even in thought, as that would be like hurting yourself, for we are all one. 4. Honor the sanctity of life in yourself as well as in others. Do not defile your body through destructive behavior. Treat it with respect as a temple that houses your spirit. It supports you in achieving your goals. 5. Our shared values have allowed us to build a strong, diverse country with opportunities for all. Let us emphasize our common humanity and not our differences. Enjoy these differences; they add spice to life. They enrich us. Do not use them as an excuse to separate us. 6. Take responsibility for your life. Do not blame other people or circumstances for failure. It is not poverty that leads to moral decay, but lack of values. 7. Take advantage of the wonderful opportunities society offers you. Most especially, honor your teachers, and make the most of your schooling. Remember that everything can be taken away from you, except what is in your head. 8. But knowledge is not enough. What is needed is a moral compass. 9. Low self-esteem leads to alienation and anger. Raise the sense of your own worth through achievement. 10. Pierre Curie said: We must make of our life a dream and then turn that dream into reality. But first comes the vision.
We should go out in a blaze of glory after a life well lived.
Instead of aches and pains we ride a glorious chariot into the sunset
Instead of dimming eyesight we see the beauty of the earth
Instead of duller sound we hear the music of the spheres.
Instead of the rush of duties we enjoy a well-earned rest.
Instead of pain and sorrow we only remember the lessons.
I know it’s a long good bye
But we shall meet again
And we shall meet friends from long ago.
Oh to be received with all the love we spread, past and present
To know the joy of reunions with loves thought lost
‘Tis only a ride to a new adventure, a new life and new learning
Bathed in a sea of peace and beauty and ineffable love.
I WROTE THIS POEM IN THE WAKE OF THE BOSTON MARATHON MASSACRE AND KENYAN MASSACRE.
I have looked into the face of evil
The dismemberment of spectators at a joyous springtime run
Human beings jumping to their death from a burning inferno on a glorious fall day
Crowds blown up in busy markets in distant places
People dehumanized, poisoned, burnt to ashes
I have seen the face of evil.
What dark recesses of the mind harbor such visions of hell?
What blackness plots such mayhem?
What twisted thinking leads to such barbarism?
What deep seated hatred justifies such deeds?
Where does it come from?
Are we born to hate? No! Are we born to kill? No!
Are we born to destroy what others have built? No!
Is no price too high to achieve power over others?
Don’t these mothers love their children?
Or do they teach them self-immolation to kill others?
Do they worship death in the name of some elusive belief?
Is no price deemed too high?
We can ask again: where is God?
But God does not do this, men do.
God gave us free will. We can choose.
Why choose evil? Why choose destruction?
Why choose to inflict pain? Why choose hatred?
Why choose death?
Does anyone have a direct line to heaven?
Does anyone have a monopoly on Truth?
Are people just a means to an end?
Is nothing sacred, not even life itself?
Is power über alles – above all -- a worthy goal?
I have no answers, only questions.
The earth with its bounty is a gift.
Life in its many forms is a gift.
Beauty is a gift.
Peace we create
Love is ours to give.
We will not yield to Evil.
We choose life.
Beauty, love and freedom shall prevail if,
Like Winston Churchill in 1940,
We have the vision, the courage and the will to protect and defend them.