food for thought

"If you want peace, stop fighting. If you want peace of mind, stop fighting with your thoughts." - Peter McWilliams

"If you haven't forgiven yourself something, how can you forgive others?" - Dolores Huerta

"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." - Mahatma Gandhi

"Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you." - Carl Sandburg

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when it's not me that needs to do the forgiving, it seems easy enough, it makes plenty of sense. forgiveness is good. it's good for you. forgiveness does not make it ok, does not excuse it. but it does mean letting go of the burden and weight of resentment and anger. and, most of the time, i really do believe that forgivness is often more about the forgiver than the forgivee. it's not even necessarily important that the forgivee know they've been forgiven. in fact, if the forgiver has some specific need for the forgivee to know they've been forgiven....well, that suggests something besides forgiveness might be at play there.

so, that's how i feel about it. that's what i believe. but when it is me that needs to do the forgiving, it is hard to let go of the angry side of me that thinks "but they don't deserve forgiveness". there's just the tiniest whisper of a voice in my head that has sense enough to say "but you do".

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell

i must be a genuis.

another great essay, A Four-Letter Word, from Sars (Sarah Bunting of Tomatonation.com).

here's a clip from the beginning:

Ah, "slut." A compact little word, forceful even in the way it sounds, starting out with a hissing sibilant and pushing off of the tongue through the L and U, and then that nastily crisp T. "Slut." Say it a few times out loud. Roll it around in your mouth. "Sssslut." "Sss…lllut." Say it again. Notice that it's difficult — almost impossible, in fact — to pronounce it neutrally. It's got a sneer built into it, that word. It's not as twangy and unthreatening as "tramp." It's not as easy to yell as "whore." "Whore" is built for screaming rage and dishes flying through the air, with a nice gusty H at the front and a big old roaring R bringing up the rear. Not "slut," though. "Slut" is muttered. "Slut" is whispered. "Whore" comes in like a punch, but "slut" tingles, like a slap. "Slut" hides behind the teeth. "Slut" is for when your back is turned.

"Slut" is for when you don't act like a lady. "Slut" is for when you sit with your legs apart. "Slut" is for when you wear it short, tight, without a bra, cut up high and down low and around the side, because, see, "slut" is also for when you have the nerve to enjoy your body in front of women who hate their own bodies. Don't strut. Don't dance with soul, or lick your lips. Don't look too good; don't think you look too good. Digging your own self is slutty. Making your own good time is slutty. Who do you think you are, anyway? Knees together, slut.

“Without change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.” - Frank Herbert

"There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.” - Winston Churchill

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” - Mahatma Gandhi

"Things do not change, we do." - Henry David Thoreau

"Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

torture

is it possible to go completely insane due to itchyness? because i think i might do just that! after 2 bbq's this weekend, i accumulated over 20 mosquito bites! TWENTY PLUS!!!! wtf? they are huge and red and itchy and the anti-itch stuff isnt anti-itching anything whatsoever!



those little bastards must have a sense of humor too because there're about 5 or 6 bites all in a neat row across my lower back. *grumble*