The Editors' Corner ~ ' The Best Within You...'
Anyway,
I was sorting through some stacks of
written
material that have gathered in every
available
corner of my home, and I ran across
an
excerpt from a wonderful book, "Atlas Shrugged"
written
by Ayn Rand.
As
usual, as years pass, things that I re-read take on new meanings, new tones
and new applications as
life
changes me and those around me. Words jump off the pages as answers
to the current questions and
problems.
Some writings are timeless, meant for generations of eyes and minds.
If you read enough, and
search
for insight, knowledge and solutions in the pages of great books, you'll
probably come to the same
conclusion
that many people have- there are no new problems. Humans have been
asking the same questions
and
looking for the same answers since the beginning. But, that fact
aside, it is still so very comforting to stumble
across
a meaningful piece of writing when you need it. There really are
no coincidences, are there? You pray, you
wait,
you get an answer. Duh....
It
amuses me that so many so called 'unrelated'
works
are totally 12 step oriented. Things like
the
concepts and benefits of serenity are not
only
cross cultural, but many ancient belief
systems
are based on it.
WIthout
serenity I wonder if there would be
hope.
If we have no serenity, doesn't that
mean
we gave it away to something or
someone?
Wasn't that a choice we made?
If
so, didn't we just gave away our strength
and
our ability to hope, to have faith?
Which
brings me to the passage from "Atlas Shrugged".
It
has to do with giving away the best parts of yourself because
of
the negative influence of circumstances and/or people in your closest circle.
"In
the name of the best within you, do not sacrifice your world to those who
are at its' worst.
In
the name of the values that keep you alive, do not let your vision of man
be distorted by the ugly, the cowardly,
the
mindless in those who have not yet achieved... Do not lose
your knowledge that man is at his best with
uncompromising
values, and a step that travels unlimited roads. Do not let your
fire go out, spark by irreplaceable
spark,
in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet,
the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely
frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach.
Check
your road and the nature of your battle.
The
world you desired can be won.
It
exists....
It
is real....
It's
yours."
Dakota 2000 ©