In hope that I will leave footprints

[lucille]

Here is one of my faves. As you get older, you reflect, at times; and hope that you have left enough of yourself for humanity.




Tell me not in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou are, to dust thou returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each tomorrow
Find us farther than today.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act, - act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sand of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,

Learn to labor and to wait.

- By H.W.Longfellow

[robert garner]

: Here lies Ozymandeus, King of Kings. Look on these works, ye mighty, and despair.

[lucille]

: And this above all, to thine own self be true...

[Aslan]

And a walk through the ocean of most souls would hardly get your feet wet...

(Ok, that WAS uncalled for, but the timing was there...)

Life is what we make it. It's not what we do that leaves a lasting impression, but rather what we help others do in their lives.


:devil:

[andy]

because nearly everyone despairs out how little real worth they amount to in THIS life, they MUST postulate accomplishing more in the after life, other lives, etc. There is not one SHRED of evidience that points to a damned thing beyond this life.

[Aslan]

because nearly everyone despairs out how little real worth they amount to in THIS life, they MUST postulate accomplishing more in the after life, other lives, etc. There is not one SHRED of evidience that points to a damned thing beyond this life.

Must really be sad to feel that way about yourself. Seriously.

I think you'll find the majority are pretty comfortable with where they are overall. Maybe you just haven't figured out what you really should be using as a measurement.

But, then again, you do go out of your way to wallow in hatred, loathing, and self-pity.

You'd probably find a huge turn around in your life if you cut all the crap and tried acting like a decent human being. Admitted you were wrong once in a while, stopped trying to "prove" how tough you are, etc.

:devil:

[Ratsinthegravyredux]

We straddle the earth, having left bloody footprints wherever we went: the scoop of our heels in Africa, the span of our arches over the Atlantic, the spokes of our ankles in Europe, the balls of our feet indented in North America, the spread of our toes in South America. And once sieved through these passages, we were tossed on shore, pure gold, the dross burned out, our strengths floating on top like cream, waiting to be scraped and eaten by someone other than ourselves. death of a sage in the city of God's team the anchorman reported that a policeman's bullet had killed an 80-odd-year-old Black man. a single bullet severed a link between eight generations, a living witness to the post-Diaspora-- the fear/the murders/the riots the marches/the hope. . . a gun in the hand of a fool, and a remnant of our past is silenced forever a sage, plucked up by the roots-- dead black men tell no tales.
------------------

My wish is to leave no footprints but I know that I have failed in that endeavor.

It is my hope that my footprints would bring joy and happiness.

Sometimes, I accomplish that, but far to often, my footprints have brought trouble and anger and hate and fear.

So, I spend my time spreading joy and happiness like a ray of sunshine as I tiptoe through this world, making amends, perhaps.