Men value things in three ways: as useful, as pleasant or sources of pleasure, and as excellent, or as intrinsically admirable or honorable.
quote by Mortimer Adler
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I feel most at home in the United States, not because it is intrinsically a more interesting country, but because no one really belongs there any more than I do. We are all there together in its wholly excellent vacuum.
quote by Wyndham Lewis
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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There was an honorable tradition of using anonymous sources that was ruined by Jayson Blair.
Death and survival, and theories....
Those who struggle so hard
in order to live for a number of years more
are admirable
They fight their wars
and Just don't surrender that easily,
Those who want to end their lives
Finding it absurd
Those who hit their heads hard against the wall
and Bleed and die
Upon their own will
I say,
They too are admirable
They have guts.
Death is a state, but the door towards it
is painful. Those who embrace pain, contrary to norms,
must deserve our honor.
Theirs is that dignity to end their lives
at will.
Life is precious they say. It is a gift.
But life has no meaning sometimes.
One simply gets short of more reasons in order to continue the journey of sorrow and grief
and occasional joys of living.
One kicks hard against the storms.
The other stretches his hands to touch the sky.
Others let them be.
Those who are afraid, and non committal,
simply leave their lives in the hands of God.
They too have their own reasons,
They rest their destinies to Fate
or Faith,
And they too, must be admirable
or honorable.
I am this spectator still trying to fathom
the truth about this right or wrong.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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God’s Provision
All my help comes from above, no matter what I am thinking of,
He tends to my needs with love, fitting my situation like a glove,
Supplying all my needs to me, from a source that I may not see,
As God moves the heart of man, as He fits me into another plan.
God’s plan intertwines down here, in other sources, far and near,
Using sources all about the earth, as an opportunity He will birth,
He knows our need for each day, from Him we need not to stray,
Providing for His own and more, in His provision we can be sure.
Man’s ways don’t frustrate God, as He rules over the earthly sod,
Earthly ways man may revise, but God still rules above the skies,
All man’s futile, temporal revision, will not hinder God’s provision,
As The Lord above all Eternity, cares for His own and their family.
I must focus upon the Lord alone, as God cares for His very own,
Using the very situation at hand, in a way we may not understand,
In ways that may not be clear, with sources about us that are near,
As God moves the heart of man, to provide according to His plan.
God provides all that man needs, in the lives of those Christ leads,
Leading in ways we may not know, but, where He leads, we will go,
And then the door opens wide, for by Him, all needs aren’t denied,
When blessings do get poured, we know provision is of The Lord.
(Copyright ©04/2009)
Please Keep The Pain
please keep the pain
do not attempt to throw pain away
please be patient
do not scream do not tell the neighbors
do not shame pain by running wildly on the streets
screaming about your pain
please do not create a scandal for this
honorable family in pain
please keep the pain for a while and be honorable
there is decency in pain
keep this pain with a clean face on a smooth disposition
let your arms lay there
appease the pain
as though pain is a baby that you want to put to sleep
soon it will go
nothing is permanent in this world
nothing will last forever
the pain may not subside but soon it will have its right time
it decides to go by itself
there is no choice
we will have this pain too
our pains in silence
because we are honorable too
you will never know
we will never tell you we are decently in pain too
we are honorable
we do not make presumptions that we will survive
but we will
these pains that make us decent and honorable
our faces will not show these pains
we will not even tell
we just keep them without complaining
we are decent we are honorable
we are the survivors
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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I don't think anyone is more intrinsically holy. People experience God in many ways; and it seems to me that God does what the rest of us do: He chooses the means that best gets His message across.
quote by Gene Wolfe
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Blooming Consciousness
Apparent and becoming quite obvious,
There is a gap widening...
Between those who have and have not.
And this is not a reference,
To wealth or material things.
Those who are conscious...
And those doing their best,
To pretend they are awake...
Have definitely been separated,
By the existence of reality.
And those who have been denying truth,
With an admirable fight...
Are clearly not on the right side,
Of a blooming consciousness!
The great divide has arrived and is amongst us.
Trusting in ways of having things done,
To achieve familiar outcomes...
For many this has already become pointless.
And noticeably so.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Theatre of Sidon (400 B.C.)
Son of an honorable citizen—most important of all, a good-looking
young man of the theatre, amiable in many ways.
I sometimes write highly audacious verses in Greek
and these I circulate—surreptitiously, of course.
O gods, may those puritans who prattle about morals
never see those verses about an exceptional kind of sexual pleasure,
the kind that leads toward a condemned, a barren love.
poem by Constantine P. Cavafy
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Dublin & Chicago
a pseudonym is necessary
to establish an identity
based on origins
personality is irrelevant
in the scheme of things
that intrigue poets
perhaps a dramatic dialogue
is in order to elucidate
how things are
like browning and his duchess
call it plagiarism if you like
but that's how it is
in dublin and in chicago, too
wallace stevens and his poem
the emperor of ice cream
are sources for the resourceful
writer who credits his sources
for the inspiration they inspire
poem by Michael Pruchnicki
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Anything Will Do to Do That, Right?
Anything will do to do that, right?
Anything to keep desires flavored fresh.
It doesn't matter the sources,
Or where those resources come from, either.
You're in this for the show of things...
And you want those 'things' you got
Kept to keep on showing!
Anything will do to do that, right?
A career is too long to achieve.
You're waiting for one to come like magic.
Just for the money,
To splurge on worthless wants
And claimed needs.
So you're looking through the classifieds?
Hoping to find something that makes you qualified...
To sit with nothing at all to do,
As you play around with numbers
Thinking of clever ways to pay the bills...
And purchase something new to impress co-workers,
Family, friends and debt collectors too!
Anything will do to do that, right?
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Be honorable yourself if you wish to associate with honorable people.
At Parting II
AND you could leave me now--
After the first remembered whispered vow
Which sings for ever and ever in my ears--
The vow which God among His Angels hears--
After the long-drawn years,
The slow hard tears,
Could break new ground, and wake
A new strange garden to blossom for your sake,
And leave me here alone,
In the old garden that was once our own?
How should I learn to bear
Our garden's pleasant ways and pleasant air,
Her flowers, her fruits, her lily, her rose and thorn,
When only in a picture these appear--
These, once alive, and always over-dear?
Ah--think again: the rose you used to wear
Must still be more than other roses be
The flower of flowers. Ah, pity, pity me!
For in my acres is no plot of ground
Whereon could any garden site be found,
I have but little skill
To water weed and till
And make the desert blossom like the rose;
Yet our old garden knows
If I have loved its ways and walks and kept
The garden watered, and the pleasance swept.
Yet--if you must--go now:
Go, with my blessing filling both your hands,
And, mid the desert sands
Which life drifts deep round every garden wall,
Make your new festival
Of bud and blossom--red rose and green leaf.
No blight born of my grief
Shall touch your garden, love; but my heart's prayer
Shall draw down blessings on you from the air,
And all we learned of leaf and plant and tree
Shall serve you when you walk no more with me
In garden ways; and when with her you tread
The pleasant ways with blossoms overhead
And when she asks, 'How did you come to know
The secrets of the ways these green things grow?'
Then you will answer--and I, please God, hear,
'I had another garden once, my dear'.
poem by Edith Nesbit
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In Many Ways I Can Say
I can say the same things...
In many ways!
In many ways I can say...
Lush green valleys,
Carpet magnificent mountains.
Peaked to reach from spiraling tops.
In many ways I can say...
The gold lights sparkling the heavens,
And twinkling bright.
Exquisite stars...
Through a mysterious darkness.
Light years away.
Yet delights.
I can say the same things...
In many ways!
In many ways I can say...
How a Summer breeze,
Can lift my appetite...
To heights that amaze and excite me.
In many ways I can say...
How I admire the nerve of trees!
And in many ways I can say,
The hum I hear from the bees...
Signals good deeds being done.
I would if I could...
Or should.
But why?
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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There Is So Much Pleasure And Joy In Life
THERE IS SO MUCH PLEASURE AND JOY IN LIFE
There is so much pleasure and joy in life,
The world is so rich in so many good and interesting things,
Life can be so happy and so wonderful in so many ways,
There is no end to the miracle it can be-
Why then?
Why then?
Weary, stale, flat, unprofitable-
Do I sink into a depth of darkness
From where I know
There has never been true light
And never will there be- life again?
poem by Shalom Freedman
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An Old Man Wants Life To Be Pleasant
An old man wants life to be pleasant
He does not want to know too much
About the wars and conflicts of the world
He does not want to hear too much noise
He does not want to hear people argue
And know about other peoples quarrels
He wants life to be pleasant
He knows he will not save the world
The others will have to do that
He has done what he has done
And done it for a long time
It has made little difference
And what else he can do will make less-
He wants life to be pleasant-
Without disturbances and disorders
Without too many demands upon himself
Quiet
Able to do his own things
Not bothered
To sit at home when he wants
And walks when he wants
And talk with his wife when they both are at peace
Not to hear and know about all the problems even his own
To be pleasant
To be peaceful
Even if inside he knows its going wrong
Even if there is the pain
He wants it to be pleasant
For as long as it can be
Before its not.
poem by Shalom Freedman
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Well, user feedback was excellent. Even when the software didn't work at all, there were few people who were avid users, and there were people who were just sending excellent feedback and excellent ideas.
quote by Shawn Fanning
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Honorable retreats are no ways inferior to brave charges, as having less fortune, more of discipline, and as much valor.
William Napier in Peninsular War (1810)
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Spectator ab Extra
As I sat in the Café I said to myself,
They may talk as they please about what they call pelf,
They may sneer as they like about eating and drinking,
But help it I cannot, I cannot help thinking
How pleasant it is to have money, heigh-ho!
How pleasant it is to have money.
I sit at my table en grand seigneur,
And when I have done, throw a crust to the poor;
Not only the pleasure itself of good living,
But also the pleasure of now and then giving:
So pleasant it is to have money, heigh-ho!
So pleasant it is to have money.
They may talk as they please about what they call pelf,
And how one ought never to think of one’s self,
How pleasures of thought surpass eating and drinking—
My pleasure of thought is the pleasure of thinking
How pleasant it is to have money, heigh-ho!
How pleasant it is to have money.
II
Le Diner
Come along, ‘tis the time, ten or more minutes past,
And he who came first had to wait for the last;
The oysters ere this had been in and been out;
Whilst I have been sitting and thinking about
How pleasant it is to have money, heigh-ho!
How pleasant it is to have money.
A clear soup with eggs, voilà tout; of the fish
The filets de sole are a moderate dish
A la Orly, but you’re for the red mullet, you say:
By the gods of good fare, who can question today
How pleasant it is to have money, heigh-ho!
How pleasant it is to have money.
After oysters, sauterne; then sherry; champagne,
Ere one bottle goes, comes another again;
Fly up, thou bold cork, to the ceiling above,
And tell to our ears in the sound that they love
How pleasant it is to have money, heigh-ho!
How pleasant it is to have money.
I’ve the simplest of palates; absurd it may be,
But I almost could dine on a poulet-au-riz,
Fish and soup and omelette and that – but the deuce –
There were to be woodcocks, and not Charlotte Russe!
So pleasant it is to have money, heigh-ho!
So pleasant it is to have money.
Your Chablis is acid, away with the Hock,
Give me the pure juice of the purple Médoc:
St Peray is exquisite; but, if you please,
Some Burgundy just before tasting the cheese.
So pleasant it is to have money, heigh-ho!
So pleasant it is to have money.
As for that, pass the bottle, and d—n the expense,
I’ve seen it observed by a writer of sense,
That the labouring classes could scarce live a day,
If people like us didn’t eat, drink, and pay.
So useful it is to have money, heigh-ho!
So useful it is to have money.
One ought to be grateful, I quite apprehend,
Having dinner and supper and plenty to spend,
And so suppose now, while the things go away,
By way of a grace we all stand up and say
How pleasant it is to have money, heigh-ho!
How pleasant it is to have money.
III
Parvenant
I cannot but ask, in the park and the streets
When I look at the number of persons one meets,
What e’er in the world the poor devils can do
Whose fathers and mothers can’t give them a sou.
So needful it is to have money, heigh-ho!
So needful it is to have money.
I ride, and I drive, and I care not a d—n,
The people look up and they ask who I am;
And if I should chance to run over a cad,
I can pay for the damage, if ever so bad.
So useful it is to have money, heigh-ho!
So useful it is to have money.
It was but this winter I came up to town,
And already I’m gaining a sort of renown;
Find my way to good houses without much ado,
And beginning to see the nobility too.
So useful it is to have money, heigh-ho!
So useful it is to have money.
O dear what a pity they ever should lose it,
Sine they are the people that know how to use it;
So easy, so stately, such manners, such dinners,
And yet, after all, it is we are the winners.
So needful it is to have money, heigh-ho!
So needful it is to have money.
It’s all very well to be handsome and tall,
Which certainly makes you look well at a ball;
It’s all very well to be clever and witty,
But if you are poor, why it’s only a pity.
So needful it is to have money, heigh-ho!
So needful it is to have money.
There’s something undoubtedly in a fine air,
To know how to smile and be able to stare,
High breeding is something, but well-bred or not,
In the end the one question is, what have you got.
So needful it is to have money, heigh-ho!
So needful it is to have money.
And the angels in pink and the angels in blue,
In muslins and moirés so lovely and new,
What is it they want, and so wish you to guess,
But if you have money, the answer is Yes.
So needful, they tell you, is money, heigh-ho!
So needful it is to have money.
poem by Arthur Hugh Clough
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To many a man, and sometimes to a youth, there comes the opportunity to choose between honorable competence and tainted wealth. The young man who starts out to be poor and honorable, holds in his hand one of the strongest elements of success.
quote by Orison Swett Marden
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We are considering various ways of making use of our oil and gas downstream industries. This is to be complemented with the import of oil and gas from other sources as raw materials.
quote by Hassanal Bolkiah
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