I recently read an essay in the January / February 2005 issue of "Orion" magazine. It was called "The Bridge Over Purgatory" by Jordan Fisher Smith, excerpted from his book of essays titled, "Nature Noir: A Park Ranger's Patrol in the Sierra". This part of the essay follows him telling about the time he responded to a call from dispatch regarding a report of a man who had jumped off a bridge to his death. When the author arrived on the scene, he found the man had left his pickup truck parked on the side of the road, with the keys in the ignition, an open beer in the drink holder, and country music playing on the radio. :

"We are all so caught up in the struggles we get into on the way to the lives we dream of, and the dead man was probably just a little farther down that road than the rest of us....
But maybe he was just suffering from the same regret we've all known at one time or another, when life hasn't lived up to our expectations. Only his was worse, and perhaps his life lacked the sweet little mitigations that get most of us through our days: bandy-legged fawns on the lawn, a soft song you hum looking out on a parking lot with a cigarette in your hand, peach-colored flowers against blue-green rock, the company of friends, children, and animals, and the terse exclamations of your fellows, which let you know you are not the only one who suffers. Everything suffers. Everything has joy. In purgatory you still have a chance; the final judgment on you and everything else has not yet been rendered. So if people are doing something wrong, refuse to cooperate. If the music's too sad, for God's sake change the station or turn the radio off. Stop before the bridge. Get out. Walk down the road. Sniff the air, and if it smells good, breathe deep."

Some inspiring quotes...

"I hold three treasures
Close to my heart.
The first is love;
The next, simplicity;
The third, overcoming ego".
- Lao Tzu, "Tao Te Ching"


The following couple of quotes are by Dag Hammarskjold. He lived from 1905 until 1961. He was from Sweden, and served as Secretary General of the U.N. from 1953 until his death.

"Life only demands from you the strength you possess. Only one feat is possible -- not to have run away."

The next quote is from his journal ("Markings"):

“Thus it was.

I am being driven forward
Into an unknown land.
The pass grows steeper,
The air colder and sharper.
A wind from my unknown goal
Stirs the strings
Of expectation.

Still the question:
Shall I ever get there?
There where life resounds,
A clear pure note
In the silence.”