03-02-2022, 10:31 AM
'What do I want from this life? What makes you happy is not enough. All the things that satisfy our instincts only satisfy the animal in us. I want to be proud of myself. I want more. I want to look up to myself & when I die, I want to smile because of the things I have done, not cry for the things I haven't done.'
Tom Hurndall
'Consider biological reality in all of its complexity & beauty. We are the only species that systematically kills others of its kind. This propensity has become a serious design flaw. There is a way in which we are able to make another human being invisible, to deny that their suffering is real. We convince ourselves that their suffering is necessary for the survival of ourselves & our children.'
In war times, Kathleen Ann Goonan
'Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, & living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree & listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting sweetness. Tell yourself that you tasted as many as you could.'
The painted drum, Louise Erdrich
"It is a chronic & progressive disease. It is classified as such by the American medical association & the World health organisation. It can be arrested, placed in remission, but is incurable.
As with most diseases, the belief is that the cause is genetic. Addicts/alcoholics are born with a gene or gene structure, precisely which is not yet known, that when activated, causes the disease to present itself in an individual.
Once this happens, & at this point there is no way to know if or when it will happen, the addict is at the mercy of the disease. It cannot be controlled, it cannot be held in check by force of will, the decision to use or not to use, is not a decision that can be made because the disease makes the decision for you. The inability to control & the lack of choice is but a symptom of the disease."
A million little pieces, James Frey
Tom Hurndall
'Consider biological reality in all of its complexity & beauty. We are the only species that systematically kills others of its kind. This propensity has become a serious design flaw. There is a way in which we are able to make another human being invisible, to deny that their suffering is real. We convince ourselves that their suffering is necessary for the survival of ourselves & our children.'
In war times, Kathleen Ann Goonan
'Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, & living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree & listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting sweetness. Tell yourself that you tasted as many as you could.'
The painted drum, Louise Erdrich
"It is a chronic & progressive disease. It is classified as such by the American medical association & the World health organisation. It can be arrested, placed in remission, but is incurable.
As with most diseases, the belief is that the cause is genetic. Addicts/alcoholics are born with a gene or gene structure, precisely which is not yet known, that when activated, causes the disease to present itself in an individual.
Once this happens, & at this point there is no way to know if or when it will happen, the addict is at the mercy of the disease. It cannot be controlled, it cannot be held in check by force of will, the decision to use or not to use, is not a decision that can be made because the disease makes the decision for you. The inability to control & the lack of choice is but a symptom of the disease."
A million little pieces, James Frey
in order to be old & wise, you must first be young & stupid. (I'm still working on that.)