My friend Alexandra recently emailed me a poem that I thought I'd share with you. It reminds me of Max Ehrmann's Desiderata. Here it is...
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.
- Bessie Stanley (1905)
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.
- Bessie Stanley (1905)
3 Comments:
I learned something today...I had always heard this attributed to Emerson, and after some research, found your attribution correct. Whoever wrote it, it's a wonderful quote!
By LJ, at 10:41 AM
I don't particularly like this poem, but it's disappointing that you would post this, especially when to leave a healthy child in this world as a form of "leaving the world a bit better", would hopefully go against your thinking. It certainly goes against my thinking. People have children for all sorts of fake reasons, this and not being alone are two of the worst.
By Ana, at 10:10 AM
My work entails working with children who've been sexually molested -from this perspective, I find that raising a healthy child is one of the greatest forms of success a person can achieve. The poem doesn't say that reproduction is a synonym of success. Notice that it doesn't say that the child has to be your own, it can be any child whose life you decide to touch and make better. It's sad to see that someone would find this idea so offensive.
By Anonymous, at 6:52 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home