Reason enough

It isn't enough to love people because they're good to you,
or because in some way or other you're going to get something by it.
We have to love because we love loving.

                John Galsworthy, A Bit O' Love

 

 

 

 

 

 

Listen to ol' Pops

Some of you young folks been saying to me,
"Hey Pops, what you mean 'What a wonderful world'?
How about all them wars all over the place? You call them wonderful?
And how about hunger and pollution? That aint so wonderful either."
Well how about listening to old Pops for a minute.
Seems to me, it aint the world that's so bad but what we're doin' to it.
And all I'm saying is, see, what a wonderful world it would be if only we'd give it a chance.
Love baby, love. That's the secret, yeah.
If lots more of us loved each other, we'd solve lots more problems.
And then this world would be a gasser. That's wha' ol' Pops keeps saying.

Louis Armstrong, spoken intro to "What a Wonderful World" (1970 version)

 

 

 

 

 

Poem: Four in the Morning

The hour from night to day.
The hour from side to side.
The hour for those past thirty.

The hour swept clean to the crowing of cocks.
The hour when earth betrays us.
The hour when wind blows from extinguished stars.
The hour of and-what-if-nothing-remains-after-us.

The hollow hour.
Blank, empty.
The very pit of all other hours.

No one feels good at four in the morning.
If ants feel good at four in the morning
–three cheers for the ants. And let five o’clock come
if we’re to go on living.

                Wislawa Szymborska 

 

 

 

 

 

Both sides now

I don't see what difference it makes
        what side it's [your bread] buttered on.
                I always eat both sides.

                        Gracie Allen, Gracie: A Love Story 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grandmothers

Why do humans enjoy much longer life spans than other higher primates? Here's one reason: grandmothers. Anthropologists propose that earlier in our evolution, families with elder females especially thrived. The grandmothers helped care for children, ensuring greater health for everyone as well as a higher rate of reproduction than grandmother-less broods. Their longevity genes got passed on, creating more grandmothers. Lucky! Having older women around while growing up has been key to the success of many of us.

        Rob Brezsny, Freewill Astrology horoscope June 2021

 

 

 

 

 

No proof

Love can't be pinned down by a definition,
    and it certainly can't be proved,
        anymore than anything else important in life can be proved.

                        Madeline L'Engle, A Circle of Quiet

 

 

 

 

Unplug

Almost everything will work again
        if you unplug it for a few minutes,
                including you.

                     Annie Lamott, 2015 Facebook post