I have been a fan of BBC’s Doctor Who series since secondary school days – I think I started with Tom Baker’s Doctor, during ABC’s re-runs of the series!? This was long before the current revival (started in 2005). Naturally I was a little sad to learn of Elizabeth Sladen’s sudden death back in the middle of last year. Here’s a nice tribute series of videos from BBC.
Author: Louis Page 11 of 115
Today of all days is this quote highly relevant. Sometimes we concern ourselves too much with lofty goals, imaginary problems, and overlook the obvious, the present. Without the “now” there will be no plenty of “tomorrow’s” to come.
“You think this is just another day in your life. It’s not just another day – it’s the one day that is given to you, today. It’s given to you, it’s a gift. It’s the only gift that you have right now, and the only appropriate response is gratefulness. If you do nothing else but to cultivate that response to the great gift that this unique day is, if you learn to respond as if it were the first day in your life, and the very last day, then you would have spent this day very well.”
Louie Schwartzberg
American Director and Producer
“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength.”
Cornelia “Corrie” ten Boom (Dutch Christian, who with her father and other family members helped many Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust during World War II.)
Just finished reading the book Lament for a son. In fact, I had actually skimmed over A grief observed by C. S. Lewis a while back and was looking for similar accounts of people living through a loss of some form. I guess, after seeing my pet bunny die a week ago, I was simply looking for some insights on how to deal with the situation. Even though he had only been with me for less than 6 months, my heart ached seeing him take his last breaths in my arms…
Lament for a son was written by a father who had lost his son in a mountain-climbing accident; he was only 25 at the time. This book contained thoughts as the father tried to deal with his internal turmoil, trying the best he could to resolve the apparent contradictions between his faith and the pain of losing his son before his life had started properly. Why does God allow such suffering? All the things left undone, unsaid. Reading the words, one cannot help but feel the anguish and pain of a father, but, towards the end, also hopes of a new beginning.
While reading, I was intrigued that the author, a devout Christian, essentially came to a similar conclusion as what many budhists take for granted*.
Yesterday was a day of sad news. It was the day when I read about the death of Steve Jobs, the main creative force behind the rejuvenated Apple (since he was brought back in 1997). He doesn’t know me and I have never had the privilege to meet him in person. However, love him or hate him (and there are plenty of those people, with a passion!), his company’s products – and some would say the results of his single-minded vision – have defined and continue to define much of the consumer technological landscape of the last decade to the present day. Ask someone what is an MP3 player, you’d probably either get a blank stare or iPod as an answer. When you are used as a benchmark (say, iPhone, iTunes, iPad) by all your competitors, you are on to something surely!?
Here is Jobs at the famous Stanford commencement address. As some people have commented, his passing – at such a young age too, I might add – seems to have triggered some form of self-examination: have we done enough with our god-given talents, with our lives?