I walked into Miss Nartey's home, and found that her living room is dominated by a beautiful grand PIANO. I asked her for a RECITAL, to which she replied that she doesn't PLAY. As I turn my hand over the sleek exterior of this magnificent instrument, I said to myself, "WHAT A SHAME..."
I think human beings are like grand pianos - incredible creations capable of producing wonderful MUSIC. But too often that POTENTIAL goes untapped. We think that GREATNESS is meant for someone else, that we don't have the TALENT (the looks, the energy, the money, the time, the breaks...) And so we live lives "OF QUIET DESPERATION," occasionally entertaining thoughts of "WHAT IF...?"
What if Shakespeare had hidden his talent? (Or Dr Kwame Nkrumah, or Nelson Mandela, or Martin Luther, or Gandhi or anyone else who has made a positive difference). I'm not saying that everyone should feel compelled to live that BIG, but if one has that INKLING... It seems a shame that, as Oliver Wendell Holmes said, "THE AVERAGE PERSON GOES TO THEIR GRAVE WITH THEIR MUSIC STILL IN THEM."
Imagine a world where people felt free to share their grandest music and make a huge POSITIVE DIFFERENCE. Or, at least, were free from the NEGATIVITY that causes them to HURT themselves and others. Consider what would be POSSIBLE. That's a future I want us all to help create. To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury; and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable; and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasion, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.
All men and women are born, live suffer and die; what distinguishes us one from another is our DREAMS, be they dreams about WORLDLY or UNWORLDLY things, and what we do to make them come about... We do not choose to be BORN. We do not choose our parents. We do not choose our historical epoch, the country of our birth, or the immediate circumstances of our upbringing. We do not, most of us, choose to die; nor do we choose the TIME and CONDITIONS of our DEATH. But within this realm of “CHOICELESSNESS”, we do choose how we LIVE
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