You do things often that you hope will be of value. Then you wonder if it was worth it, because you don’t see change or whatever positive results you hoped for. Today’s Thursday Thought quote is for you.
“Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” — Warren Buffett
Why choose to remember that horrifying day? Because, despite its horror, that day brought out the strength, compassion, unity, hope, and even gratitude that is, in a word, America.
WHAT A MESS! The weather’s getting nicer, but there’s too many repair and clean-up chores. What to do?!!! Help yourself and someone else’s family by hiring a day-worker from a local day-worker center (e.g., St. Vincent de Paul). Find one on Yelp or Google or even an old-fashioned phone book Pay is usually $10-$15 an hour, and the center sends you people who are qualified to do the job you need done. When not out on a job, these people spend their time in training, improving their English, and gaining skills that make them better workers for you while building a brighter future for themselves and their families. So, what’s there to lose, except for that broken fence, or that peeling paint, or the hopelessness that these willing workers have felt in the past?
I needed a dose of good old fashioned positive HOPE. Too much tragedy, death and destruction from disasters, threat of war and fallout from nuclear-testing in my Pacific Ocean (I live in California), senseless shootings…. These are far from happy times.
But Ellen DeGeneres had a message of hope that’s uplifting without being maudlin. If you missed it, here it is: (Thank you, Ellen.)
Today’s Thursday Thought gives the Pope’s insight on how to observe Lent, and, by extension, how to live life.
POPE FRANCIS’ WORDS
Do you want to fast this Lent?
A Wisconsin man wanted to honor the wife he lost to a 9-year battle with cancer, and he wanted that honor to reflect the beauty she left behind in his heart. She loved all flowers, especially sunflowers. He recalled the field of sunflowers they had grown together 4 years before, and he created a 60′ x 4 1/2 mile field of sunflowers in her memory. It spans 5 farms–neighbors rented him their land for whatever price he felt was fair.
But there’s more. The seeds will be collected and sold to raise money for other cancer patients and their families–they’re calling it “Babbette’s Seeds of Hope,” after Don Jaquish’s wife.
Read more at KREM.COM.
Right now I know so many people going through unbelievable trials. This saying isn’t offered as a platitude but as a reminder of the strength of the human spirit.
