Quote of the Day

Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change. - Robert F. Kennedy, US Democratic Politician in 1966 Speech

May All Beings Be Free From Suffering

May All Beings Be Free From Suffering by Tracy Cochran

Eight years ago this morning,  I was riding a Metro North train down to Manhattan when a conductor ran through the train with the terrible and surreal news that the World Trade Center towers had collapsed and that the Pentagon had been hit.

I knew about the two planes going in when I boarded the train but in a distant echo of the way so many other New Yorkers acted that day, my instinct was to head towards the trouble. When I heard the terrible news, I spontaneously began to say a Buddhist metta prayer for all the people I pictured falling to their deaths: May you be free from suffering… May you be at ease. I wasn't in denial. It was one of those rare moments in life where the heart steps in and takes over for the head and all the distracting thoughts, fears, and sense of separation between myself and others came down. It was as if my heart was with them, as if they were the same as I was.

Posted using ShareThis

The Art of Collecting

 Photograph by Philip Clayton Thompson

Our personal tastes, our budget as well as the space  that we have to our disposition will determine the character and the size of our collection. One does not have to be a connoisseur to start a collection. But one will become one as soon as his or her involvement with the collection gets more and more serious. 

There are many things that can be collected, both modern and vintage, and many ways to display them. There are no limits to our creativity...

Image credit here