I started reading John Quinones' book this week, entitled Heroes Among Us. It reminds me of the show he hosts, "What Would You Do?". Some of the quotes today will be from that book.
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"The smallest good deed is better than the grandest good intention." -- Duguet
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On to more pictures and quotes, now, below the jump:
The book Heroes Among Us and the show "What Would You Do?" are both fascinating for me, because they get down to the core of what it means to be human. What do you do in certain situations? The survival instinct is very powerful, and it often keeps us from intervening when we could help another human being, but which is more important? Protecting your own life, or standing up for what you believe in? There is no hard and fast answer here... we all have to make those decisions for ourselves when the time comes, and there isn't always a clear choice. Sometimes you have to go with your gut, and other times you have to go with your heart. But it's up to you.
That first picture is my granddaughter, from several years ago. These two always capture my eye, because of the juxtaposition of the tulips, the moody sky, and her pose. It looks as if she is appealing to a higher power here... when in reality, she had simply fallen and gotten her hands muddy, and then heard an airplane. She loved airplanes (and dinosaurs) at that age.
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"In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart." -- Anne Frank
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I like to spend time reflecting on life, and on the choices I've made. Have I made the right choices? Not always, no. I don't think anyone makes all the right decisions, ever, but that is part of being human. That's how we learn, and grow. We can look back with regret, or we can resolve to do better, and work hard to avoid making the wrong choices the next time. We will still make bad decisions, but the point isn't to become perfect, because that will never happen, no matter how hard we try. I think, for me, the goal is to be better today than I was five years ago.
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"Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way." -- Booker T. Washington
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And sometimes, the goal is simply to relax and enjoy the day.
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"If you want to live in a better world, it starts with you." - Timothy White
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"True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost." -- Arthur Ashe
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"You can stand tall without standing on someone. You can be a victor without having victims." - Harriet Woods
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"I would rather be the man who bought the Brooklyn Bridge than the one who sold it." - Will Rogers
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"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." -- John Quincy Adams
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"The world bursts at the seams with people ready to tell you you're not good enough. On occasion, some may be correct. But do not do their work for them. Seek any job; ask anyone out; pursue any goal. Don't take it personally when they say "no" - they may not be smart enough to say "yes". - Keith Olbermann
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Always be willing to listen to those who have experience, because sometimes they know what they're talking about... :)
This one amazed me when I took it. It was at the Big Four ice caves trail, in Washington State. I was up where this woman was just a few minutes before I took this picture, and from her vantage point, you feel like you're only a couple feet above the ground. I walked across the snow pack, and even passed by a few small holes, and thought nothing of it. My daughter and niece were down below, and my daughter said "Uh... Mom... you really need to come down here and get off the snow. Trust me." So I took her at her word, and came down, only to see this:
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And YES, we warned this woman about what she was sitting on. Her response was "Whatever".
It's amazing sometimes. You think that you're in a perfectly viable position, only to find out you're really sitting above a potential disaster. This picture reminds me of where the Republican Party sits right now - and where we, as a nation, sit if we try to move on without prosecuting those who committed torture in our name. Looks good from up there, but....
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"Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." ~ George Orwell
"The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them." - George Orwell
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Okay, now on to more photos and quotes, and less chatter from me. :)
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"You don't get to choose how you're going to die or when. You can only decide how you're going to live." - Joan Baez
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"Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference." - Franklin Delano Roosevelt
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"Before we set our hearts too much on anything, let us examine how happy are those who already possess it." - Francois de La Rochefoucauld
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"Most people seek after what they do not possess and are enslaved by the very things they want to acquire." - Anwar El-Sadat
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"You do not achieve happiness by owning things. You achieve happiness by owning yourself." - Me"
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"If a person never contradicts himself, it must be that he says nothing." - Miguel de Unamuno
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"We grow a little every time we do not take advantage of somebody's weakness." - Bern Williams
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Thank you for reading. I leave you with a few final quotes:
"The welfare of each is bound up in the welfare of all." - Helen Keller
"Like the body that is made up of different limbs and organs, all moral creatures must depend on each other to exist." - Hindu proverb