Cynematik • Cyndi Greening

“Our lives teach us who we are.”
    Salman Rushdie (1947 - )
    British (Indian-born) author

“If you do not tell the truth about yourself,
you cannot tell it about other people.”
    Virginia Woolf (1882 - 1941)
    English novelist

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It’s a phrase that appears on many early gravestones in New England. A phrase made famous by Horace, one of the great lyric poets. “Eram quod es; eris quod sum.” — “I was who you are — you will be what I am.” Last week’s episode of HEROES was entitled the last half of the quote — Eris Quod Sum — you will be what I am. One of the things that I love about comic books and television shows like LOST and HEROES is how they dip into mythology to deepen their stories. In the process of looking for the quote, I discovered a wonderful website devoted to amassing a digital collection of all classical works. You can discover some amazing things at Perseus Project at Tufts University.

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Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.
Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power.
Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

Be fit for more than the thing you are now doing. Let everyone know that you have a reserve in yourself; that you have more power than you are now using. If you are not too large for the place you occupy, you are too small for it.
James A. Garfield (1831 - 1881)

QUESTION:

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My sister Sandy wrote last week to suggest that I pose a question of the week to see what people think about some of the current issues. So, here it is, a chance to express your opinion, react to someone else’s posts or perhaps even post a question of your own. I have two things that I am curious to hear what people think.

First, First Amendment. Freedom of Religion. I’ve been doing all of this research about the Puritans and the Polygamists. So, what is your opinion about freedom of religion. If your religious leaders received a personal revelation that plural marriage (polygamy) was the only way to reach the highest level in heaven. Since it is against the law in the U.S., would you leave to follow your religious beliefs –OR– do you believe, in accordance with the First Amendment, you should be free to follow your religious convictions?

Thoughts.

Second Question (in case you don’t like the first). Another friend attended an event last week and overheard an elderly relative of an acquaintance expressing his disgust and horror at the probability that a N**ger was going to be in the White House. This was not a young, rapper aficionado. This was a senior redneck. The friend confronted the elderly man but the rest of the guests tried to quiet her. Is racism condoned in your geographic area, in your family?

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You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, “I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.” You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 - 1962)
U.S. Diplomat, Reformer & Former First Lady

I think that somehow, we learn who we really are and then live with that decision.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 - 1962)
U.S. Diplomat, Reformer & Former First Lady

Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 - 1962)
U.S. Diplomat, Reformer & Former First Lady

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“It’s not true that life is one damn thing after another; it is one damn thing over and over.”
      Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950)
      US Poet

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
      Socrates (469 BC - 399 BC)
      in Plato, Dialogues, Apology
      Greek Philosopher

“Life is just a mirror, and what you see out there, you must first see inside of you.”
      Wally “Famous” Amos (1936 - )
      U.S. Businessman

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“Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.”
      Malcolm Forbes (1919 - 1990)
      US art collector, author, & publisher

“Every reader finds himself. The writer’s work is merely a kind of optical instrument that makes it possible for the reader to discern what, without this book, he would perhaps never have seen in himself.”
      Marcel Proust (1871 - 1922)
      French Novelist

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Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength;
loving someone deeply gives you courage.

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God doesn’t require us to succeed; He only requires that you try.
— Mother Teresa (1910 - 1997)

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“Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life.”
      Bertolt Brecht (1898 - 1956)

“We should conduct ourselves not as if we ought to live for the body, but as if we could not live without it.”
      Seneca (5 BC - 65 AD)

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“Life is like playing a violin in public and learning the instrument as one goes on.”
      Samuel Butler (1835 - 1902)

“Don’t limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time.”
      Rabbinical Saying

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“I’ve come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that’s as unique as a fingerprint - and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you.”

“The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success but significance - and then even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning.”

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“Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.”
— Immanuel Kant (German Philosopher; 1724 - 1804)

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“I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.” U.S. Author (1934 - )

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“Teachers open the door. You enter by yourself.”

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