Life is such an awesome experience. I’m humbled by the opportunities I’ve been given, and the trust that’s been shown to us by the people who trust us to provide them with good cactus.
In my life I’ve had the benefit to be raised by loving, caring and disciplined parents and good family. Just like a seedling, there’s nothing like getting off to a good start when small.
Appreciation and accountability is important in life. So too is an examination of life. The fellow who wrote this post speaks eloquently, succinctly, with heart and the ageless wisdom found in depth.
It touched me greatly…. and I wish to pass it on.
Have you ever filled out a form, and as soon as you turned it in you wished you’d added another line?
Ever spoken to someone, and when they drove off, you recalled something else you’d wanted to tell them?
LIFE is like that also….. when people are on their deathbed they think of their life and the people they loved….
It is said that no-one lays on their deathbed and complains that they should have put more hours in at work…. and striven harder for success..
Instead it seems the common wish expressed is one of sadness, that the dying did not fully live life, spend more time with family…. material posessions don’t really matter to people at the end…. and no matter how much money you made, you’ll never be able to fully stave off the end….
Here’s a good article, written by a hospice nurse…. she details some of the thoughts of the dying that she met during decades of this work…..
They break down to five concerns…
1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
This was the most common regret of all. When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.
It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.
2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.
This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.
By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never
became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a
result.
We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.
It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical
details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end.
That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again. When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.
Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.
Don’t waste your life… live it
Don’t be a human ‘doing’…. be a human ‘being’!
“The real question is not whether life exists after death.
The real question is whether you are alive before death”
~Osho
Slow Dance
by David L. Weatherford
Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round,
or listened to rain slapping the ground?
… Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight,
or gazed at the sun fading into the night?
You better slow down, don’t dance so fast,
time is short, the music won’t last.
Do you run through each day on the fly,
when you ask “How are you?”, do you hear the reply?
When the day is done, do you lie in your bed,
with the next hundred chores running through your head?
You better slow down, don’t dance so fast,
time is short, the music won’t last.
Ever told your child, we’ll do it tomorrow,
and in your haste, not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch, let a friendship die,
’cause you never had time to call and say hi?
You better slow down, don’t dance so fast,
time is short, the music won’t last.
When you run so fast to get somewhere,
you miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
it’s like an unopened gift thrown away.
Life isn’t a race, so take it slower,
hear the music before your song is over.
Ineptocracy: (in-ep-toc’-Ra-cy) – a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.
In the olden days one knew all the people around oneself…. people generally lived on farms and in small villages… even in cities people’s scope of contact was fairly minimal by our standards. People would walk to the local grocery, butcher, milk and meat shop… any of those that gave people a hard time, or that behaved in an ‘untoward’ fashion to their customers would feel the wrath of ‘the people’ who would reduce patronage at the shops they felt were abusing them. This is a common type of ‘social policing’ that people have done from olden times.
But now the world has grown larger…. many people travel far for work and the goods they buy are often produced halfway across the world, in lands and by peoples that much of the world was unaware of just a few hundred years ago. These goods are often sold in massive shops and through international corporations of which most people cannot look the business leader in the eye, hear his/her voice and gauge their intentions.
If someone does me wrong in business, it is logical that I’d not want to do business with them again…. but forgiveness should ALWAYS be first and foremost in human interactions. One does not know why a business acts in a certain way, perhaps it is a local aberration, and if the corporate board knew of the issues they might rectify the situation and smooth relations. But how does the small consumer ‘make’ a large business know they are doing wrong? In the old days you’d tell the owner of the business.. who doubtless would be spending most of each day at the business, and having just a few unsatisfied customers would make a difference to their bottom line…. nowadays the leader of the corporation might be anywhere in the world…. and an unsatisfied customer will effect no register in the overall scope of sales.
This is where the gauging of human interactions needs to be ramped up to international and societal standards…. if a business is acting improperly by ‘abusing’ consumers, then we need to act as a market force, a block of consumers who will not only with-hold monies from the unscrupulous or ‘accidentally-improper’ business….. but even more, we can ‘reward’ well-intentioned businesses by funneling our monies to those who change their business practices to help their consumers. For instance, if a business is doing something we would like changed, we can inform them that we’ll spread the word of their changes or potential changes to the masses, so that they realize that acting properly has positive changes…. it’s a ‘carrot and stick’ approach.
There is a group starting to do this now.. it is called ‘Carrotmob‘….. I think this is a good concept, and a way that the widespread strength of the consumer can be made apparent even in this age of global commerce…..
The founder of Carrotmob has written an open letter to the OWS, to let them know of this concept, which I think is sound and may well have a VERY positive impact on business both large, small, local and international.
SEARS and ’sneaky charges’
AKA: The Public’s Gonna Get Ya if You’re Unscrupulous!
Going back to ‘In the Old Days’ thoughts… you knew who you could do business with, and you and the rest of the local public would ‘punish’ any unscrupulous businessmen by not doing business with them. But when big corporations like Penney’s and Sears came about, you only had the manager to complain to….. you as a single or even small group of people not doing business with them will not affect a giant corporation with hundreds of stores across large geographical areas…. but now we have ’The Internets’ and can ’point-and-click’ to give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to any mega corp we don’t like. And now we see that a single article reproduced across the web can have an awesome affect! In this case Sears was automagically tacking-on long-term warranties for electrical appliances when bought on the net. Read the article, it’s awesome for its efficacy in modifying corporate behavior!
I saw it fifty years ago
Before the thunderbolt had riven it,
Green leaves, ripe leaves, leaves thick as butter,
Fat, greasy life….
–W. B. YEATS, Purgatory
When I hear this song I think of an old Rabbi I saw outside a synagogue in some town somewhere in Germany in the 70′s…
he had a long white beard, and looked at me with eyes I’ll never forget…..
I wish I’d spoken to him, and gone in to meet him…..
some things you only get one chance for….
don’t blow the chances you’re given….
LIVE!
Eddie Money
‘Life for the Taking’
People say
Look at the money they save
But I don’t believe that life’s that way
An old man
Once looked at me in the eye
He seemed to sigh
He seemed to sigh, “don’t let life pass you by”
No no no, no no no
He seemed to say
He wanted me to run
The old man was once a boy
And only young once.
Because it’s life for the taking
Well, it ain’t no, ain’t no mistaken
Well, it’s life
It’s my life
Life for the taking.
I can remember
When I was just a little kid
The big boys used to beat me up a bit
But I learned young that I couldn’t cry
My mamma wasn’t gonna be by my side.
She said it’s life, life for the taking
Well, it ain’t no, isn’t no mistaken
Well, it’s life
It’s my life
Life for the taking
Vickie and I are both animal lovers. We’re conflicted on animal testing…. but try to buy products that are ‘cruelty-free’ and not tested on animals.
We do business with Aveda Cosmetics and are happy that they don’t test their products on animals. Our cactus is used in a line of their skin-care cosmetics (the Green-Science Line).
We also sell cactus to a leading pet-food manufacturer…. we’re happy when we think about all the happy people and animals that like our cactus. It makes us feel really good.
This video show a group of beagle dogs that were given over to an animal-rescue group after the testing lab didn’t need them anymore. Beagles are the dog most used for medical/product testing because they are docile, don’t eat much, and trust humans and will stay in a cage for their whole life.
It’s sad to think of the hardship and loneliness these dogs have had, and the video got me weepy…. but it’s not a sad video…. it shows the dogs coming out of their crates for the first time and walking on grass.. meeting their next-crate buddies face-to-face, and shows snapshots of the dogs in their new adoptive homes with people and other animals that love them.
Watch the video, you may get misty-eyed, but it’ll be worth it.
Have you ever thought of looking into one of those new ‘Robotic’ carpet sweepers? They sound really interesting, and an evaluation I read gave a good report on the abilities of these little helpers.
What I found most interesting in the article (besides the technical abilities of the machine) was the anthropomorphizing so frequently used throughout the article. Several times the author referred to the robot as ‘he’. It is interesting how quickly we can give attributes to a machine, whether it be ‘she’ for a ship, or ‘he’ for a little machine.
This thought brought back the old joke that centers around what gender a computer is. In many languages, the Latin and Germanic language groups for instance, you use a gender word to describe any object. In Spanish this is La for a ‘female’ item, i.e. ‘La Mesa‘ is ‘the table‘, and ‘El Diablo‘ is ‘The Devil‘. Is a computer ‘El Computor‘, or is it ‘La Computor‘? German would be ‘Der Komputor‘, or ‘Die Komputor‘, depending on the gender decided by society.
Here we have the reasons computers are male or female, depending on a person’s reference point:
Gender and Computers
Top nine reasons computers must be male:
They have a lot of data but are still clueless.
A better model is always just around the corner.
They look nice and shiny until you bring them home.
It is always necessary to have a backup.
They’ll do whatever you say if you push the right buttons.
The best part of having either one is the games you can play.
The lights are on but nobody’s home.
Big power surges knock them out for the night.
Size does matter
Top nine reasons computers must be female:
Picky, picky, picky.
They hear what you say, but not what you mean.
Beauty is only shell deep.
When you ask what’s wrong, they say “nothing”.
Can produce incorrect results with alarming speed.
Always turning simple statements into big productions.
Smalltalk is important.
You do the same thing for years, and suddenly it’s wrong.
They make you take the garbage out.
I don’t know what the scholars ever decided. Perhaps the issue is still being debated.
1951, war broke out in Korea… as usual the US was unprepared for the war…. the military had been largely reduced in scale after WWII…. so in the usual way of the US gov’t, they opened enlistment offices and gathered the man y thousands of young men who were volunteering to go to war in a faraway place. My father at 17 was one of those young guys… he had to get his mother’s signature for him to go into the military.
Since the military was not really ready for them, the training center in San Antonio was overflowing and unable to adequately house the extra thousands of men. So the military opened up a large tent-city on the Parade Grounds, and housed many thousands of men in the long rows of tents. But, it was wintertime, and their clothes stayed damp and moldy, they never had adequate rest and were weakened and more susceptible to illness…. and strike it did… influenza hit the camp and several servicemen died. When a local dignitary heard of this he got Washington to acting quickly.. hastily, barracks in other military posts were opened up… and thousands of servicemen were bussed to other areas to be housed in actual barracks.
Remember, this was 1951, and Jim Crow was still in force in many of the Southern states. The US military had been integrated just a few years before, but the nation as a whole was still trying to get used to desegregation. My father grew up on a small farm with other small farms surrounding it. They all belonged to the local farmers co-op which bought the large equipment all the farms needed, but none could afford. As a group all the local farmers worked helping to plant and harvest on each other’s farms. Some of the local farms were owned by Black folks. They participated in the co-op and the harvests the same as everyone else. Being used to working in the fields with black folks, it wasn’t hard to bunk in the same tent with some also… so he and some other White guys bunked with some Black fellows in a large tent.
Back to the bus trip… the bus left San Antonio and travelled north to another base where barracks were promised to them. On the trip they made several stops for food. The bus would stop at a restaurant and they were all given coupons for a meal…. but the restaurants would not allow Black servicemen in (wow…. it’s hard to believe nowadays, but even a serving serviceman was discriminated against if he was Black)…. so my father and one of his White buddies would get a few extra meals using the coupons given them by the Black guys, and he and this other fellow would take the meals outside and they would all eat outdoors (which is what they did when working in the fields).
I was working on a film called ‘Forgive us our Transgressions’ one time… it was a challenging scene as it involved a lynching, and I played a lyncher…. while mulling these things over with the boom operator ‘Speed’, he turned to me and said “we’ve come a mighty long ways in this country”. As much racial issues as we still have…. I have to agree.