“To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch … to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Words of stunning insight, clarity and truth from my fave mystical, metaphysical, space cowboy running partner and disembodied spirit.
Words culled from my first book of philosophical thought at Penn State all those years ago.
And words I might add, that I’ve used to navigate and steer the Airlift ship through many choppy waters across these now nearly forty years.
After all, from Harrisburg to Saint Louis, on to Nashville and Philadelphia, then finally to New Orleans, I don’t have enough fingers & toes to count all the true buddies, pals, and radio/tv vets that I’ve worked with, known, loved and respected – that just just aren’t on the planet anymore.
Work? It’s all Headlines & Dead lines. And I’ve yet to find a man on his deathbed whose last wish is that he’d spent more time at the office.
Or a hearse with a luggage rack.
Perhaps the Tribes – America’s 1st People – had it right all those years ago….