Just making things better 30 minutes at a time. 45.078425, -123.436749
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For my part, I donate to soup kitchens and food banks. Soup kitchens because when I cook, I like to cook enough to feed an army platoon. Food banks because I've been on the receiving end often enough.
We do what we can to make the world better.
There is an oft mis-attributed (and also mis-quoted) phrase that, once I read it, I knew I could contribute to a better world.
"To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."
Often attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson
And on it's own it is profound in its meaning. The reality is that this was actually written by a woman named Bessie A. Stanley, who penned an essay that was published in the Emporia Gazette of Emporia, Kansas on December 11, 1905.
The actual quote is:
"He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who has left the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation of earth’s beauty or failed to express it; who has always looked for the best in others and given the best he had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory a benediction.”
Having discovered the real thing years after the Emerson variant only reinforced my commitment to the principal to which it speaks.
And, frankly, I like her's better.
Cheers, fam!
