Love accepts you for all that you are (in spite of all that you are not) and challenges you to be all that you can be (in spite of all that you could be).
Apologies cannot be demanded, only accepted.
One need not beware to be aware.
The fool beware, the wise are aware.
To love freely is not enough; one must love truly.
Consumer choice is your loudest voice.
Consumer choice, not just citizen vote.
Citizen vote is a right.
Consumer choice is a responsibility.
Example will lead where Result will follow.
Disengage the television; dare to envision.
《A Linguist’s Wish》
May you always love language
and seek understanding –
for knowledge is held in the mind,
but shared in the word.
Sometimes truth is found in silence. Sometimes truth breaks the silence.
《Sink or Swim》
This is the story of how a child, a boat, a voice, and a choice found each other:
On some days, the sun shines and the wind blows.
It is on these days that boats float and children dream.
On the breath of the wind, billowing white clouds moved with silent excitement across blue skies and gazed deeply over still blue waters.
Far down below, a Child found a boat, and soon found herself afloat in the boat. But for shame, as the child would soon also find herself in a boat with a leak.
The stillness of the water slowly, but surely, greeted the shell with its silent entrance.
And so the Child did what only the Child could do, and that was to lift the water out again to the expanse of the blue.
Stymied, the Child thought, “I just wanted to go for a sail, but instead, I find myself with water to bail.”
A Voice said to the child, “It seems that would make you a plumber, not a sailor.”
The truth in these words so captivated the Child’s mind that the Child didn’t stop to question from where the voice came, but continued moving the water.
With a sigh, the Child replied, “‘Tis true -but I haven’t a choice, have I? I can only hope to stay afloat. How can I even dream of sailing this boat?”
“Oh, but you do and you can!” said the Voice. “You do have the choice to go overboard or to give up your dream. But, either way, you must abandon the naiveté with which you first boarded this boat.”
In silence, the child continued to empty the water from the proa back into the blue.
“Shall you jump ship and learn to swim? Or shall you give up your dream?”
The Voice waited.
The rhythmic sound of water leaving the boat ceased.
The Child peered into the water, leaning over the edge of the boat. And for the first time, the Child caught sight of her own face in the undulating mirror.
But in doing so, the Child had rocked the boat, to the point that more water threatened to claim its whole. And without thinking, the Child quickly returned to the center of the boat, seeking balance and stability.
The rocking slowed, and the Child at last spoke. “I must lead with my brain, but I must also follow my heart.”
Splash! The boat rocked once more.
And the silence that ensued was followed only by a ripple so large that spread so far, that its waves reached well beyond the limits of her shore.
Untouchable is not intangible.
The exclusive practice exclusion.
Truth is distorted as is a light deformed over a canvas rippled.
The fool paint a house, so as to save it from collapse.
The wise balance being human, which is undeniable, with remaining idealistic, which is indispensable.
To conform is to accept the fate of others as your own.
To be singled out -is often either to be idolized or vilified, with better odds of the latter.
cloud • clear 