Feel-Good Folder

Sometimes I get to feeling pretty low. I suppose everyone does, though I don’t notice it in others as much as I see it in myself. Note to self: You need to be a little more sensitive to the folks around you. What was I saying? Oh, yeah, sometimes I get to feeling pretty low. The self-pity party scene can be pretty dreadful.

I know that these low moments are inevitable, so I keep a folder in my office desk that I refer to when I get in a funk. The folder is labeled “Tom – Personal”. Remember Julie Andrews in Sound of Music singing “I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don’t feel so sad”? I’ve collected a quarter inch of favorite things in my folder. Thank-you notes, emails, cartoons, quotes, witticisms; anything that might cheer me, help me to persevere, tolerate the intolerable, choose the harder right rather than the easier wrong, to be better than I am, or better than I feel at that moment.

I’d like to say my feel-good folder works wonders, but it simply gets me through the occasional hard day. Sometimes I worry that the folder actually causes me to focus on my misery, on how things ought to be rather than how they are, and end up worse than I already was. I hope not. The only sure cure for me is a good run and a full night’s sleep.

The solitude of the run may cause me to wallow in the issues of the day, but it also permits a quiet thoughtful analysis. My anger can be pounded out during a couple of hard miles. I can mentally rant and rave about the injustice, ignorance, absurdity, and foolishness of the day. But eventually, when the emotion is removed, I can finally find my way to the essence of the Serenity Prayer, accepting the things I cannot change and changing what I can. Well, that’s the lie I tell myself.

In addition to my feel-good folder I’ve also got a document on my computer where I’ve collected a variety of words that inspire or amuse me. Most of these are well known, but it may have been a while since you last read them. Here are the contents of that document for your amusement. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Yes, I am cheating by not writing something original of my own. I needed a day off.


The Original Serenity Prayer as written by Reinhold Niebuhr 1892-1971:

God, grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can and
wisdom to know the difference:
living one day at a time,
enjoying one moment at a time:
accepting hardship as a pathway to peace:
taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it:
trusting that You will make all things right if I surrender to Your will:
so that I may be reasonably happy in this life and
supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen.


What is success?

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
or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed
easier because you have lived;
This is to have succeeded.

Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803-1882


The Impossible Dream

To dream the impossible dream,
to fight the unbeatable foe,
to bear with unbearable sorrow,
to run where the brave dare not go,

to right the unrightable wrong,
to love, pure and chaste, from afar;
to try when your arms are too weary;
to reach the unreachable star.

This is my Quest---to follow that star,
no matter how hopeless, no matter how far,
to fight for the right without question or pause,
to be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause!

And I know, if I'll only be true to this glorious Quest,
that my heart will lie peaceful and calm when I'm laid to my rest.

And the world will be better for this---
that one man, scorned and covered with scars,
still strove with his last ounce of courage
to reach the unreachable star.

Lyrics by Joe Darion 1917-2001, music by Mitch Leigh 1928-


Boy Scout Oath

On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.


Boy Scout Law

A scout is
Trustworthy,
Loyal,
Helpful,
Friendly,
Courteous,
Kind,
Obedient,
Cheerful,
Thrifty,
Brave,
Clean, and
Reverent.


C’est Moi

Camelot! Camelot!
In far-off France I heard your call.
Camelot! Camelot!
And here am I to give my all.

I know in my soul what you expect of me,
And all that, and more, I shall be

A knight of the Table Round should be invincible,
Succeed where a less fantastic man would fail.
Climb a wall no one else can climb,
Cleave a dragon in record time,
Swim a moat in a coat of heavy iron mail.

No matter the pain, he ought to be unwinceable,
Impossible deeds should be his daily fare.
But where in the world
Is there in the world
A man so extraordinaire?

C'est moi! C'est moi!
I'm forced to admit.
'Tis I, I humbly reply.
That mortal who
These marvels can do,
C'est moi, c'est moi, 'tis I

I've never lost in battle or game;
I'm simply the best by far.
When swords are crossed,
'Tis always the same:
One blow and au revoir!

C'est moi! C'est moi!
So admirably fit!
A French Prometheus unbound.
And here I stand, with valor untold,
Exceptionally brave, amazingly bold,
To serve at the Table Round!

The soul of a knight should be a thing remarkable,
His heart and his mind as pure as morning dew.
With a will and a self-restraint
That's the envy of every saint
He could easily work a miracle or two.

To love and desire he ought to be unsparkable,
The ways of the flesh should offer no allure.
But where in the world
Is there in the world
A man so untouched and pure?

C'est moi!

C'est moi! C'est moi!
I blush to disclose.
I'm far too noble to lie.
That man in whom
These qualities bloom,
C'est moi, c'est moi, 'tis I.

I've never strayed from all I believe;
I'm blessed with an iron will.
Had I been made the partner of Eve,
we'd be in Eden still.

C'est moi! C'est moi!
The angels have chose
To fight their battles below.
And here I stand, as pure as a prayer,
Incredibly clean, with virtue to spare,
The godliest man I know!
C'est moi!

Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner 1918-1986, music by Frederic Loewe 1901-1988


Success

He has achieved success
who has lived well,
laughed often, and loved much;

who has enjoyed the trust of
pure women,
the respect of intelligent men and
the love of little children;

who has filled his niche and accomplished his task;

who has left the world better than he found it
whether by an improved poppy,
a perfect poem or a rescued soul;

who has never lacked appreciation of Earth's beauty
or failed to express it;

who has always looked for the best in others and
given them the best he had;

whose life was an inspiration;
whose memory a benediction.

--1904 Bessie Anderson Stanley


Chinese Proverb

He who knows not,
and knows not that he knows not,
is a fool. Shun him.

He who knows not,
and knows that he knows not,
is a child. Teach him.

He who knows,
and knows not that he knows,
is asleep. Wake him.

He who knows,
and knows that he knows,
is a wise man. Follow him.


Stopping by Woods On a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it's queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there's some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost 1874-1963