Quote and discuss

Lalealynn

The idea is you quote something from a literary source or something of meaning to you. It can even be funny and then you discuss and someone else posts a quote etc.

If you don't have a quote i guess you can discuss someone else's.
David Russell 'The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn.'

David Russell- scottish classical guitarist.


I thought that was interesting. I saw it today. My uncle is an amazing photographer and takes a picture everyday of Dublin. He takes a lot of sports photography too. But today I saw an amazing picture of a bridge in Dublin and he had written this quote. The image and the word together were powerful.

Laois6556

Never try to drown your troubles... Especially if he can swim.

The little bastard will pull you under!

Edit: Oh sorry, thought this was After hours. Reverse!

DazMarz

"For in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's futures. And we are all mortal." -John Fitzgerald Kennedy, The American University Speech, 1963

I love this quote. It so neatly sums up the relationship between all humans. This speech was delivered at the height of the Cold War. It is one of Kennedy's most brilliant, moving and powerful speeches. And this quote was used to encourage and attempt to nurture peace between the USA and the USSR.

But it goes much deeper than that, and can be applied to a plethora of other situations and can be used to this day. I use it all the time. I think it is one of the neatest summations of the human condition ever made.

We all inhabit this tiny, insignificant (in the sense of the universe) planet. We are a microcosm of life in a vast, mostly lifeless universe. We are an oasis of life in the middle of a vast desert of nothingness. We are a unique piece of the universe. We could very easily be the only sentient beings in the whole universe. And yet, here we are. Alone on this tiny, tiny planet. But we should cherish our planet and our life. Kennedy worried about nuclear annihilation. Today, we worry more about other things. But the message is equally real and powerful as it was over 50 years ago.

We breath the same air, we live together in the same atmosphere and we all share the same basic, common needs of survival. Linked to the above, we should respect and cherish the fragility of our most unique planet. That includes respecting and cherishing all of those who inhabit it. Something we are generally remiss in doing. We always accentuate and focus on our differences (of race, religion, class, etc.), while ignoring the similarities between us all. Something that would unite us together as one human race.

We always try to give future generations better than we have had it. Humanity has always striven to improve our lives, for the betterment of the future of humanity. We always want what is best for our children. We want our children to have better and brighter futures than we had. Advances in technology and increasing progressiveness has largely made this possible. But we are, like the people of the 1960's, still in danger. Our children are still in danger. But most peoples would be united in their common desire to love their own children and provide them with a good life (the means may be different, however, but the aim is the same).

Nothing lasts forever. Kennedy himself proved how mortal we all were. 5 months after delivering this famous speech, the most powerful man in the world was felled by an assassin's bullet in Dallas, Texas. The world mourned one of the greatest leaders and truest visionaries in history. Buried with Kennedy was much of the hope and promise that the 1960's had started with. The mortality of man and the fragility of life was summed up in that final phrase. We do not live forever. But, to quote a Hollywood blockbuster, "What we do in life, echoes in eternity". We may be mortal, but our deeds, our words and our ideals may live on beyond ourselves. Men are mortal, ideals are immortal. Despite John Kennedy's untimely death, much of what he attempted to achieve eventually came to pass, albeit decades later. But, in his all too brief time on this planet, he did so much for the people of America and the people of the world. This is the very essence of that phrase: we are but fragile beings who will not be here forever, but while we are here, let's make the absolute most of it.

Unfortunately, we will never know how different and better the world might be today had John Kennedy lived to serve his full terms as President. The Cold War may have ended sooner. Civil rights for all, healthcare, education... all would surely have been brought to the forefront. The Presidencies of Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Reagan and Bush (both of them) may not have happened (these Presidencies were, largely, detrimental to the world at large [in my own opinion, of course]). And yet, like almost no other President from the post World War II-era, Kennedy's legacy lives on and towers over most around him. In his 1000 days as President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy gave more than most Presidents do in 8 years.

The legacy of JFK is that of an eloquent man, with a grace and a dignity that forgave most of his faults and above all, a man who loved the human race and who tried to do his best to further mankind and bring peace to the world.