The world begins anew with every birth, my father used to say. He forgot to say, with every death it ends. Or did not think he needed to. Because for a goodly part of his life he worked in a graveyard.
Interpretation
Life is cyclic; every new birth signifies a new beginning, while each death signifies an ending.
This quote reflects on the cyclical nature of life, emphasizing that every birth represents the start of a new journey, while every death symbolizes the conclusion of another. The author's father's perspective, shaped by his experiences in a graveyard, suggests that he recognized the profound interconnection between life and death, yet perhaps chose to focus solely on the beauty of new beginnings without pondering the inevitability of endings.
In practice
In a eulogy, this quote can remind attendees of the cyclical nature of life.
It is funny, but it strikes me that a person without anecdotes that they nurse while they live, and that survive them, are more likely to be utterly lost not only to history but the family following them. Of course this is the fate of most souls, reducing entire lives, no matter how vivid and wonderful, to those sad black names on withering family trees, with half a date dangling after and a question mark.
What is the sound of an eighty-nine-year-old heart breaking?
In a very real way, the poor are our teachers. They show us that people’s value is not measured by their possessions or how much money they have in the bank. A poor person, a person lacking material possessions, always maintains his or her dignity. The poor can teach us much about humility and trust in God.
The conscious mind determines the actions, the unconscious mind determines the reactions; and the reactions are just as important as the actions.
In April, we cannot see sunflowers in France, so we might say the sunflowers do not exist. But the local farmers have already planted thousands of seeds, and when they look at the bare hills, they may be able to see the sunflowers already. The sunflowers are there. They lack only the conditions of sun, heat, rain and July. Just because we cannot see them does not mean that they do not exist.
A man cannot become an atheist merely by wishing it.
'Freedom' means a lot to conservatives, but they have such a narrow sense of what it means. They think a lot about freedom from - freedom from government, freedom from regulation - and precious little about freedom to. Freedom to is absolutely something that has to be safeguarded by good government, just as it could be impaired by bad government.
All that you see out in front of you is how you feel inside your head.
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