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Sitaram · Site Admin Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Posts: 1079

http://sulekha.com/chpost.asp?for...ilosophy&show=0&cid=71985

Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to
school an intelligence and make it a soul?

-- John Keats, English poet (1795-1821)

The joy of life consists in the exercise of one's energies,
continual growth, constant change, the enjoyment of every new
experience. To stop means simply to die.

-- Aleister Crowley, British writer (1875-1947)

This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in
if it is not a reasonably good place for all of us to live in.

-- Theodore Roosevelt, 21st U.S. President, author and adventurer
(1858-1919)

This will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the
home of the brave.

-- Elmer Davis, radio commentator (1890-1959)

=================

When my daughter Abrielle was four she came running down the hall
screaming, "I don't want to die! I swallowed a stone!" I
immediately determined that nothing was obstructing her throat
but she was still in a panic.

"It's OK, sweetheart. You're not going to die," I said.

She thought I didn't understand. "But I swallowed a stone! It
was a blue one!" she emphasized, as if I should realize this was
a particularly deadly stone.

Apparently, a babysitter, in order to discourage her from putting
things in her mouth, told her she could die if she swallowed the
wrong things, and to Aby, that included polished stones I'd given
her.

I assured her she was in no danger; that the stone would come out
in the morning when she went "poo poo." She ran to the toilet,
"I want it out now!" She was pushing so hard it looked like a
blood vessel would burst. She was frightened and desperate.

Moments like this test and refine your values. Truth and reason
weren't working. So I lied.

"I know what to do," I said, and I ran to get a spoonful of maple
syrup. "Here, swallow this syrup. It will melt the stone."

"Will it be gone?" she asked.

"Absolutely," I replied.

She swallowed the syrup and announced triumphantly, "Daddy melted
the stone. I'm not going to die." The emergency was over, but I
hated lying to her. Though I worried she would never trust me
again, I had to tell her the truth a few weeks later.

Today, she's almost nine, and I heard her using the story to tell
her sisters that her daddy always takes care of her. Funny, she
trusts me even more.

Truth is really important, but trust is the ultimate treasure.

- Michael Josephson

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