HOPE AND INSPIRATION
"There is no use trying," said Alice; "one can't believe impossible things." "I dare say you haven't had much practice, " said the Queen. " When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
A course website can become a place where students share writings they consider their personal favorites - inspirational (and/or provocative) poems, parables, songs, quotes, passages from books, electronic links, YouTube videos, radio programs, photos and pictures. On this page, we continue in this tradition. In the face of suffering, what specifically helps you maintain a relationship with hope? What sustains you through the challenges of this work?
To contribute favorite inspirational poems, quotes, passages from books, click here.
To contribute favorite inspirational You Tubes, radio programs, websites and other electronic links, click here: My Links Page.
We will begin with a few favorites of our own.
Favorite Poems
Attention is love, what we must give
children, mothers, fathers, pets,
our friends, the news, the woes of others.
What we want to change we curse and then
pick up a tool. Bless whatever you can
with eyes and hands and tongue. If you
can’t bless it, get ready to make it new.
- Marge pierce, Poems to go
http://www.margepiercy.com/
Faith is the bird
that feels the light
and sings
When the dawn
is still dark
- Tagore
Praise and blame, gain and loss,From Buddha’s Little Instruction Book by Jack Kornfield
Pleasure and sorrow
Come and go like the wind.
To be happy, rest like a great tree
In the midst of them all
How Some People Move
for Cathy Cohen
Some people move through the world
with a softness so powerful
you have to slow down
to listen.
Some people move
like a poem
the kind you remember
keep close to you your whole life
the poem that's there when you need it
like the nourishment of your mother, father
or whoever it was that fed you
when you needed to be fed.
Some people learn to live
by listening
beneath the noise of people and things
to the quiet calling
and in their listening learn
to tremble.
Some people become themselves
the hum of the world
so soft, so powerful
you have to slow down to listen.
by Susan Windle
(c) 2007 by Susan Windle
http://voicesofadifferentdream.com
After hearing Susan’s poem, Judy posted the following:
"Thanks for posting Susan's poem. I really wanted to read it again. I thought I might write a letter saying how much I liked it, but then I didn't really know what else to say, and so I wrote a poem in response. As I read Susan's poem, I thought more about how people move about the world and through their lives. I also thought about people who have recently come and gone in the world. I thought about Michael White, who I never knew, but have recently heard stories about. I have gotten the sense that his light was very bright and that he moved many people. I also remembered my dear friend Shannon, who left the world so soon and so tragically. I would give anything in the world to have that slow dance."
I am moved by your words about movement
I stop and think about how it is
I move in the world
and through my life
of all the people and things
that move me
and how I might move others
I remind myself
to be aware of my movement
how is it
I come and go while I am here
I know that life is just a flicker in time
It comes and goes so quickly
especially when someone leaves so soon
and unexpectedly
We see them move
and we have been moved
because we have danced together
I’m sorry it wasn’t a slow dance
A candle can burn a long time
and put out a strong, steady, bright light,
or a breeze can cause the light
from the flame of a candle to flicker,
but it will still casts its moving shadows
and when the light finally goes out,
it has left an impression and sometimes
the light lingers
a little bit longer
in the darkness
until we adjust our eyes
to the absence of the movement
from the flickering light.
- Judy Pierce
Favorite Sayings
"I write it down, and then the ghost does not ache so much. I write it down and Mango says goodbye sometimes. She does not hold me with both arms, she sets me free."
"House on Mango Street" by Sandra Cisneros.
"Whatever the hour of the day in our work, we must do the right thing in the right way, for the right end; work that makes sense of the hours that we are privileged to live"
- David Whyte
"do not walk in front of me because I may not follow; do not walk in front of me because I may not lead, simply walk beside and be my friend."
- Albert Camus
Multi-media
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader, bringing together some of the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/pages/view/id/5
Randy Pausch (October 23, 1960 – July 25, 2008) was an American professor of computer science, human-computer interaction and design and a best-selling author who achieved worldwide fame for his "The Last Lecture" speech on September 18, 2007 at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. The lecture was conceived after, in summer 2007, Pausch had learned that his previously known pancreatic cancer was terminal. Pausch delivered his "Last Lecture," titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," at CMU on September 18, 2007.[14] This talk was modeled after an ongoing series of lectures where top academics are asked to think deeply about what matters to them, and then give a hypothetical "final talk," i.e., "what wisdom would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?"
http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/
“Listening is an Act of Love.”
“StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit project in the USA through National Public Radio (NPR) whose mission is to honor and celebrate everyday people’s lives through listening. The heart of StoryCorps is the conversation between two people who are important to each other: a son asking his mother about her childhood, an immigrant telling his friend about coming to America, or a couple reminiscing on their 50th wedding anniversary. Since 2003, tens of thousands of everyday people have interviewed family and friends in StoryBooths in Grand Central Station in New York City and two Mobile recording studios housed in Airstream trailers.