“Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it “
— George Bernard Shaw

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My blogging so far in nutshell :

An E-mail Forward:

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over”. I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead. “I will come next Tuesday”, I promised a little reluctantly on her third call. Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, i had promised, and reluctantly i drove there. When i finally walked into Carolyn’s house, i was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.

“Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that i want to see badly enough to drive another inch!”… “But first we’re going to see the daffodils. It’s just a few blocks”, Carolyn said. “I’ll drive. I’m used to this”…. After about 20 minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and i saw a small church. On the far side of the church, i saw a hand-lettered sign with an arrow that read, ‘Daffodil Garden’. We got out of the car, each took a child’s hand, and i followed Carolyn down the path. Then, as we turned a corner, i looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight.

It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, saffron and butter yellow. Each different-coloured variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers. “Who did this?” i asked Carolyn. “Just one woman”, Carolyn answered. “She lives on the property. That’s her home”. Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house. On the patio, we saw a poster. ‘Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking’, was the headline. The first answer was a simple one. ‘50,000 bulbs’, it read. The second answer was, ‘One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and one brain’. The third answer was, ‘Began in 1958’. For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom i had never met, who, more than 40 years before, had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop. Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. One step at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.

The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration. “It makes me sad in a way”, i admitted to Carolyn. “What might i have accomplished if i had thought of a wonderful goal 35 or 40 years ago and had worked away at it ‘one bulb at a time’ through all those years? Just think what i might have been able to achieve!”
My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. “Start tomorrow”, she said. She was right. It’s so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, “How can i put this to use today?” Use the Daffodil Principle.
Stop waiting…

http://spirituality.indiatimes.com

Next time you’re found, with your chin on the ground,
There a lot to be learned, so look around.

Just what makes that little old ant
Think he’ll move that rubber tree plant?
Anyone knows an ant can’t move a rubber tree plant,
But he’s got high hopes, he’s got high hopes,
He’s got high apple pie, in the sky hopes.
So any time your gettin’ low, ‘stead of lettin’ go
Just remember that ant
Oops there goes another rubber tree plant.

When troubles call, and your back’s to the wall,
There a lot to be learned, that wall could fall

Once there was a silly old ram
Thought he’d punch a hole in a dam;
No one could make that ram scram
he kept buttin’ that dam,
‘Cause he had high hopes, he had high hopes
He had high apple pie, in the sky hopes.
So any time your feelin’ bad,’stead of feelin’ sad
Just remember that ram
Oops there goes a billion kilowatt dam

All problems just a toy balloon
They’ll be bursted soon
they’re just bound to go pop.
Oops there goes another problem kerplop
Oops there goes another problem kerplop
Oops there goes another problem kerplop,
kerplop