Monday 29 September 2008

Expectations

If you give people tools,
and they use their natural abilities
and their curiosity,
they will develop things
in ways that will surprise you very much
beyond what you might have expected.
-Bill Gates

Friday 26 September 2008

Tell

The greatest thing a human soul
ever does in this world
is to see something,
and to tell what it saw in a plain way.
– John Ruskin

Wednesday 24 September 2008

Idle

It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly
unless one has plenty of work to do.
– Jerome K. Jerome

Monday 22 September 2008

Caring

Too often we underestimate the power
of a touch, a smile, a kind word,
a listening ear, an honest compliment,
or the smallest act of caring,
all of which have the potential
to turn a life around.
- Leo Buscaglia

Friday 19 September 2008

September 19, 2008 Chautauqua


From the Editor's Computer

The other day I was enjoying a lovely drive to Alix as I admired the scenery and the fall colours.


A jarring note in the idyllic moment came as a truck in front of me approached an intersection and ventured way over into the other lane. The thoughts that raced through my mind included was the driver suffering a heart attack? Was there something on the highway? Did something happen to his truck?

No. It seems the driver ahead of me had an aversion to driving over the rumble strips before the intersection.

This isn’t the only time I’ve seen this happen. The first time I was exiting an intersection as an oncoming car suddenly decided, without any warning or other indication, to move right into my driving lane just to avoid the rumble strips. He came a little too close for comfort, too quickly.

I’m sorry, but I have no use for drivers like that. I don’t care what your reason is for such action as there really is no reason good enough to justify endangering yourself and the other drivers when you pull a stunt like that. There are rules to be obeyed when driving on our roads, and driving in the opposite lane, especially when it is occupied, is wrong.

We hear about how dangerous it is to drive while talking on the cell phone or eating. However, it is just as dangerous to move out of your proper lane to avoid the rumble strips at intersections with little regard for the rest of the traffic around you. Slow down...stay in your own lane….be safe and responsible.

Beth


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Wednesday 17 September 2008

Advice

When you give advice to others,
it applies to your own life
somewhere or somehow.
– John DeMartini

Monday 15 September 2008

Friday 12 September 2008

Enjoyment

Those who truly and disinterestedly
enjoy any one thing in the world,
for its own sake, and without caring twopence
what other people say about it,
[are] by that very fact forearmed…
[One should never] abandon
the people, food or books he really likes
in favour of the “best” people,
the “right” food, the “important” books.
– CS Lewis

Wednesday 10 September 2008

Lion

It's better to be a lion for a day than a sheep all your life.
- Sister Elizabeth Kenny

Monday 8 September 2008

Place

Every individual has a place to fill in the world,
and is important, in some respect,
whether he chooses to be so or not.
- Nathaniel Hawthorne

Friday 5 September 2008

September 5, 2008 Chautauqua


From the Editor's Computer

I recently read that traditional Native American healers ask those who are feeling sick four short, seemingly simple, questions:
· When was the last time you sang?
· When was the last time you danced?
· When was the last time you told your story?
· When was the last time you rested in silence?

While most of us don’t tend to sing or dance, share stories or sit in silence, too often, we do tend to do those things more during the relaxed days of summer when schedules are more open and activities are more carefree.

As another school year begins, and clubs and organizations start gathering and meeting again, as our calendars start filling up once more, we need to remember to pause.

We need to pause in our crazy lives to sing more. We need to pause in our crazy lives to dance more. We need to pause in our crazy lives to share with others how we feel (not to complain, but rather to share our observations of our feelings) and how we fit in this world. We need to pause in our crazy lives to just be silent and let the silence embrace us.

Those four simple activities - sing, dance, share, and sit - reconnect us to ourselves and to our innate creativity. Those four activities renew and refresh not only our bodies and our minds, but also our spirits, and from there our relationships with those people around us.

I challenge you to sing, dance, share and sit for a moment each and every day. It is important for your health!

Beth

Click here to read the complete issue of The Chautauqua.

To contact The Chautauqua, email: thechautauqua@gmail.com.

Wednesday 3 September 2008

Studies

It is important that students bring a certain
ragamuffin, barefoot irreverence to their studies;
they are not here to worship what is known,
but to question it.
– Jacob Bronowski

Monday 1 September 2008

Rich

It is the heart that makes a man rich.
He is rich according to what he is,
not according to what he has.
- Henry Ward Beecher