It's Not what you DON'T do........................

I agree, Letty. Society casts more interest on those who did good things (as well as the bad,) than on those who abstained from everything and led a grimy life. We associate, somehow, action as being more positive than abstention. In a way, I feel that our own actions are our eternal life; we are incarnated, if subjectively, by those who think on them. Man is the measure.

(However, one could argue that our decision to not do is one continuous action... but anyway.)

We can be powerfully judged by what we didn't do, though:

'This was Mr Bleaney's room. He stayed
The whole time he was at the Bodies, till
They moved him.' Flowered curtains, thin and frayed,
Fall to within five inches of the sill,

Whose window shows a strip of building land,
Tussocky, littered. 'Mr Bleaney took
My bit of garden properly in hand.'
Bed, upright chair, sixty-watt bulb, no hook

Behind the door, no room for books or bags -
'I'll take it.' So it happens that I lie
Where Mr Bleaney lay, and stub my fags
On the same saucer-souvenir, and try

Stuffing my ears with cotton-wool, to drown
The jabbering set he egged her on to buy.
I know his habits - what time he came down,
His preference for sauce to gravy, why

He kept on plugging at the four aways -
Likewise their yearly frame: the Frinton folk
Who put him up for summer holidays,
And Christmas at his sister's house in Stoke.

But if he stood and watched the frigid wind
Tousling the clouds, lay on the fusty bed
Telling himself that this was home, and grinned,
And shivered, without shaking off the dread

That how we live measures our own nature,
And at his age having no more to show
Than one hired box should make him pretty sure
He warranted no better, I don't know.

As usual, drom. You have given all of us words that truly seep slowly into
the very being of our innerness.

Thank you, my British friend.

More later. The storm makes cowards of us all.

This thread has inspired me to post a Stan Rogers song I have posted before:

HARRIS AND THE MARE

Harris, my old friend, good to see your face again
More welcome, though, yon trap and that old mare
For the wife is in a swoon, and I am all alone
Harris, fetch thy mare and take us home

The wife and I came out for a quiet glass of stout
And a word or two with neighbors in the room
But young Clary, he came in, as drunk and wild as sin
And swore the wife would leave the place with him

But the wife as quick as thought said, "No, I'll bloody not"
Then struck the brute a blow about the head
He raised his ugly paw, and he lashed her on the jaw
And she fell onto the floor like she were dead

Now Harris, well you know, I've never struck an angry blow
Nor would I keep a friend who raised his hand
I was a conscie in the war, cryin' what the hell's this for?
But I had to see his blood to be a man

I grabbed him by his coat, spun him 'round and took his throat
And beat his head upon the parlor door
He dragged out an awful knife, and he roared "I'll have your life"
And he stuck me and I fell onto the floor

Now blood I was from neck to thigh, bloody murder in his eye
As he shouted out "I'll finish you for sure"
But as the knife came down, I lashed out from the ground
And the knife was in his breast and he rolled o'er

Now with the wife as cold as clay I carried her away
No hand was raised to help us through the door
And I've brought her half a mile, but I've had to rest a while
And none of them I'll call a friend no more

For when the knife came down, I was helpless on the ground
No neighbor stayed his hand, I was alone
By God, I was a man, but now I cannot stand
Please, Harris, fetch thy mare, take us home

Oh, Harris, fetch thy mare, and take us out of here
In my nine and fifty years I've never known
That to call myself a man, for my loved one I must stand
Now Harris, fetch thy mare take us home

Written and recorded by Stan Rogers. Copyright Fogarty's Cove Music

Ah, Cav. In your diversity, in the sweet pain of adversity, we remember the smallest things that drive us on.

We sense the smell of ending,
And recant the hard forgiving
Of the part of us still living
In a poem and in a song.

And for Harris and his mare,
The simplest record of despair
Is the doing of the right that dispells wrong.

Re: It's Not what you DON'T do........................


True.

Tempered by the idea that "just because we can do something, doesn't mean we should do it.

For example, perhaps Hitler would have left a "greater legacy" if he didn't do much...if he just worked at a bookstore or something his entire life.

Hmmm...(ridiculous question coming): If Hitler had done "nothing" his entire life, would that have been a "better legacy" that what he ended up leaving? (by "doing nothing," here I mean lets say he just lived out a peaceful life with a minimal job, etc.)

Can "doing nothing" actually be better than doing a lot, if what you do is some rotten stuff?

e.m. Great doesn't always mean good, does it. I had Hitler in mind, plus a few other "greats".

As I sit here awaiting news of the churning hurricane, I simply wondered about the most insignificant of us on the planet.

What we must DO will never be remembered by anyone but those who depend on us, and in that we become tiny giants in someone's hope chest.

It's lovely and quiet here in my corner of Florida, and I watched a tiny salamander clinging tenaciously to a screen.

Waxing a little philosophical tonight, but I hope that more folks here will intervene and ask, "But, Letty. What have you done for me lately." <smile>

Re: It's Not what you DON'T do........................
It all depends on how you look at it. An underdog who defeats the shoe in, a disabled person who overcomes their injury, was it really what they did that made them great, or was it the fact that they DIDNT give up.

An alcoholic who stops drinking, thats a great feat, and it was what he didnt do.

We are not remembered only for what we did or didnt do. We are remembered going beyond the means of what the "average person" could do, or would do. We are remembered for what we overcame, for changing someones life, for changing the way someone thinks, for giving someone hope, and sometimes are greatest legacy is simply something we did that effected or influenced someone else, good or bad, to the point that it became memorable.

Ahh Letty. You do much for those who notice. I know I do.

Very true. At the risk of sounding mushy: The "legacy" that my mom left for me, by the things she did, benefitted me more personally & directly than the "legacy" of any "great president," leader, etc. Sometimes I think the tiny giants are every bit and more important than the more obvious famous figures. Where would the famous figures be without the tiny giants. Perhaps the tiny giants are really what make it all possible.

On a side note, this thread reminds me of my 5th grade teacher who was famous for making us write this sentence 500 times:
I know what I should do, but I do not do it, and that is why I am writing this sentence.
My hand hurts just thinking about it. I hate to admit, though, that a lot of my problems even in adulthood could have been avoided if I would have remembered this cursed sentence. Indeed, this is why I am living this sentence, to a degree.

Best wishes during the storm. Is it predicted to go near your area?

Unity, Welcome to A2K. I just got another perspective, and I'm always looking for that. We can turn the mind on a lathe, the heart on a wheel, and the body on a rack, and it's all in the resistance of it.

Cav, my dear Canadian friend. You have been rubbed and scrubbed and came up smiling. lol.

e.m. I know. I'm not a total romantic. Believe me, I will brave the storm as my mind, body, and soul dictates. You are dear to be concerned.

Now, I must do the things of the moment.

He's a real Nowhere Man,
Sitting in his Nowhere Land,
Making all his Nowhere plans for nobody.
Doesn't have a point of view,
Knows not where he's going to,
Isn't he a bit like you and me?
Nowhere man please listen,
You don't know what you're missing,
Nowhere Man, the world is at your command.
He's as blind as he can be,
Just sees what he wants to see,
Nowhere Man can you see me at all?
Nowhere Man don't worry,
Take your time, don't hurry,
Leave it all till somebody else,
Lends you a hand.
Doesn't have a point of view,
Knows not where he's going to,
Isn't he a bit like you and me?
Nowhere Man please listen,
Nowhere Man, the world is at your command.
He's a real Nowhere Man,
Sitting in his Nowhere Land,
Making all his Nowhere plans for nobody.
Making all his Nowhere plans for nobody.
Making all his Nowhere plans for nobody.

ah, edgar. I know that song...tomorrow, my friend...if there is one. <smile>

The most I can do
Could I remind everybody to make a will. It is so important.

Yes, it is, coming. I have a holographic will. Thank you for your concern.