(image taken from http://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/albert-schweitzer-in-lambarene/)
"When I look back upon my early days I am stirred by the thought of the number of people whom I have to thank for what they gave me or for what they were to me. At the same time I am haunted by an oppressive consciousness of the little gratitude I really showed them while I was young. How many of them have said farewell to life without my having made clear to them what it meant to me to receive from them so much kindness or so much care! Many a time have I, with a feeling of shame, said quietly to myself over a grave the words which my mouth ought to have spoken to the departed, while he was still in the flesh."
I vow to never live a life of regret and to speak openly to those around me while they are still alive, so that this sentiment will not burden my heart.
"Developing a true sense of gratitude involves taking absolutely nothing for granted, wherever it be, whatever its source. Rather, we always look for the friendly intention behind the deed and learn to appreciate it. Make a point of measuring at its true value every act of kindness you receive from other men. Nothing that may happen to you is purely accidental. Everything can be traced back to a will for good directed in your favor. "
I think this is a good reminder to always remain eternally grateful for everything in my life: the people I come into contact with and all the situations I am confronted with and always to see the silver lining in every cloud.
"Like all human beings, I am a person who is full of contradictions."
Amen.
"I listened, in my youth, to conversations between grown-up people through which there breathed a tone of sorrowful regret which oppressed the heart. The speakers looked back at the idealism and capacity for enthusiasm of their youth as something precious to which they ought to have held fast, and yet at the same time they regarded it as almost a law of nature that no one should be able to do so. This woke in me a dread of having ever, even once, to look back on my past with such a feeling; I resolved never to let myself become subject to this tragic domination of mere reason, and what I thus vowed in almost boyish defiance I have tried to carry out."
Alas, youth is wasted on the young.
"To the question whether I am a pessimist or an optimist, I answer that my knowledge is pessimistic, but my willing and hoping are optimistic."
I really relate to this. We are continually being shown tragedies on the daily news but I try to remain optimistic throughout.
"The most valuable knowledge we can have is how to deal with disappointments."
Dejection is demoralizing and results in impotence. I think the best way to cope is through concerted and positive action.
"In action lies wisdom and confidence. A man who does not act gets no further than the maxim: Life means conflict and tribulation. But a man who acts can attain the higher wisdom and knows that life is conflict and victory. that is why God forces men to labor. that is why he gives them children to bring up. That is why he gives them duties. Through action, they may reach a deeper realization."
One may never learn about oneself through reading other people's truths. One must endeavor and discover one's truth on one's own.
"The deeper we look into nature the more we recognize that it is full of life, and the more profoundly we know that all life is a secret, and we are all united to all this life."
Nature has always left me in awe, which is why I try and commune with nature as often as I can.
(To be continued...)
