"You feel, in New York City, the energy coming up out of the sidewalks, you know that you are in the midst of something tremendous, and if something tremendous hasn't yet happened, it's just about to happen."

Brendan Gill

The reason grandchildren and grandparents get along so well is because they have a common "enemy".

~Unknown

Meditation of the week

It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without also helping himself.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

When Albert Schweitzer said, "The only ones of you who will be truly happy are those who have found and learned how to serve,""he was stating an ancient truth - that the meaning of life lies in giving. The quality of your life is in direct proportion to your willingness to give.

In the classic movie "It's a Wonderful Life," George Bailey discovered this truth. Though he had many opportunities to pursue his ambitions elsewhere, George remained in his community and dedicated himself to providing affordable housing to its members. When his guardian angel showed him what the town would be like if he had never been born, Bailey realized how much of a difference his giving had made.

George also discovered another secret - that what you give is what you receive. Whatever you give out comes back to you. When you extend yourself to nurture the spiritual growth of another, you nurture your own growth. Although his material possessions were modest, George Bailey was toasted the "richest" (i.e., the most beloved) man in town by the people of Bedford Falls. Later he remarked, "No man can be poor as long as he has friends."
Bailey gave of himself for the joy of giving, and joy is what he received. By following this path, we, too, can be blessed.

Poem of the Week

Song

There was a physical silence after his death;

One of the songs, in the chorus of life songs, had been completed.

The music went on as before, the vast chorus of life on Earth,

but it was changed, diminished.

As though a heavy, dank, invisible drape had been gently laid upon life.

D Seward

Author of the week

It was on this day in 1881 that Charles Darwin (books by this author) published what he considered to be his most important book: The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms. At the time, most people thought of earthworms as pests, but Darwin demonstrated that they were beneficial, important for soil fertility and consequently for agriculture.

Darwin had published The Origin of Species in 1859, but he thought that this work was more important — and in fact, during his lifetime it sold much better than The Origin of Species, more than 6,000 copies its first year.

He wrote, "Although the conclusion may appear at first startling, it will be difficult to deny the probability, that every particle of earth forming the bed from which the turf in old pasture land springs, has passed through the intestines of worms."