Sunday night... the universe is quiet again. Every working man and woman goes to bed mildly disturbed by the rumination on life's mystery.
DR. WILBUR LARCH Goodnight, you princes of Maine, you kings of New England.(The Cider House Rules, 1999)
Pequeño soldado, my true north,
You orient my world and set it forth;
Whenever my hope is gone,
I think of you and march on!
Pequeño soldado, my guiding light,
You taught me love and how to fight;
To me you know just what to say,
You never have too little to give away.
Pequeño soldado, my inspiration,
You're spoken of from nation to nation;
Who would've thought that a little boy
Could wield power so lightly from joy?
Pequeño soldado, you will be known
For freeing hearts when you have grown;
For now your skills you will refine
By practising them on freeing mine!
Nuestra amistad es como un cuento
Que lei solo escuchas pero
No lo vez asi es contigo;
Solo te veo en fotos y leo lo
Que me cuentas pero no te veo en verdad.
Nuestra amistad es como el sol sobre mí
Ilumina mi mundo y
Calienta mi corazón; Cuando veo
La puesta del sol es porque pido el sol
Para enviar mi amor a su salida del sol.
Querido Mr. ------, (Dear Mr. ------,)I am so happy to write you again. I have a thousand things to tell you for you have asked me a lot of questions in your letters. I thank you for your beautiful letters. I had fun reading them and I loved the pictures of the zoo. What was your favourite animal? How old are your parents? They look young in the pictures and so do you.I want you to know that in Colombia we celebrate el mes del amor y la amistad... the month of love and friendship in September. It is very lovely to see everything decorated with hearts and in schools they play secret friend. Have you ever played secret friend? What I like about my country is that it has diverse landscapes and weathers. My favourite drink is soda. I like it because of the gas and my favourite food is fried fish.I also want to tell you that thank God my brother Andres is doing well. Lately I have read an interesting book called Damas y Caballeros... "Ladies and Gentlemen", which talks about a theatre where they represent warrior princes. I like reading history books. As for the ranch you asked me about I guess it is the project's farm and it is doing well. We have many roosters and chickens that grow up quickly.Finally I want you to know you are always in my prayers. Now I ask God to bless your parents and that we get to meet in Colombia soon. I also ask you to help me pray that I do well in school. I say goodbye with a thousand kisses. Dios te bendiga y gracias por tu cariño... God bless you and thank you for your affection.Sincerely,Maycol Barón
"Demographic Winter: The Decline of the Human Family is a short film that seeks to reawaken society to the importance of the stable, intact family, and engender a discussion and greater focus in the media, in academia, in the halls of policy makers, in religious circles, in the committees of civil society and in households around the world. Our hope is that all of these circles will bring to bear on the problems facing the family the tremendous contributions each can uniquely make. In this way, we hope to avert the storm that is now most surely coming on."
“These things are vitally important; they need to be talked about.” -Dr. Gary Becker, Nobel Prize for Economics 1992 (In regards to topics discussed in Demographic Winter)
“It’s happening in rich and poor countries... throughout the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, North & South... under all forms of government, birthrates are plummeting throughout the world.” -Phillip Longman, New America Foundation; author of The Empty Cradle: How Falling Birthrates Threaten World Prosperity and What to Do About It
“The old policies have unwittingly destroyed the family and with it the social fabric. Rather than development, we have almost lost the only effective vehicle to development: the family.” -Christine de Vollmer, President of Latin-American Alliance for the Family
“Sadly, many Western elites are blind tothe social scientific evidence... showing that a strong and healthy marriage culture is vital to the social economic, and psychological welfare of our society’smost vulnerable members, children.” -W. Bradford Wilcox Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia; lead author of Why Marriage Matters
DRAGLINE
Why you got to go and say fifty
eggs for? Why not thirty-five
or thirty-nine?
LUKE
I thought it was a nice round
number.
(Cool Hand Luke, 1967)
He flies at the Supreme Command,
Not stopping to think or doubt,
Into the direction where
God's sleeve stretches out
—God's merciful hand.
They descend with lightnings
Submerged under the stratus,
Whose flapping motion unravels
Unevenly dispensed justice
—God's silver wings.
She rises to the occasion
Trailing a blood-dirtied gown,
Telling a grand story of battle
For the everlasting crown
—God's inexorable passion!
Life is a string of lessons we either reluctantly learn from or miss entirely. But only a Lifegiver can salvage what's lost and give meaning to pain. Our life is not our own inasmuch as we weren't there when it was conceived. What we lose in this life wasn't ours to own in the first place. Be glad it was once there at all.
PHILLIP
It's puny!
BUTCH
Hell no Phillip. Good size for
a boy your age.
(A Perfect World, 1993)The pursuit of passion in any subject is like the filling of pollen into every cranny of the honeycomb—it's a lifetime of labour from joy!
The ghost of Bampfylde is who I am,
By the clear, swift creeks I roam.
My loved ones lived south of the dam,
My story in the hearth of home.
The attics of boyhood hid secrets
Only the brave dared to know;
No thrills satiate the palates
Of hijacked pubescence for show!
Before boys grew up a crisis struck,
From which men were keenly made:
Damn rascals turned from shooting ducks
To chasing after girls with braids!
Without any training love debuted,
Hormones started a new trend;
But quickly came a news most skewed
Of heartbreak beyond any mend.
No-one ever told those teenaged boys
That with joy sorrow must come,
And sorrow marched without a noise
To the beats of a dead man's drum.
In their old age all these men wondered
About things they could have done.
In their rues they deeply suffered,
But none knew why, not even one.
If only they could see what we ghosts see
From beyond the graves that enslave man:
Death does not end a lifelong esprit,
Oh but a heart unbridled surely can!
So with regards to the matter of life
This is what a spirit has to say:
To end the wars of your inner strife,
Honour your love—and forgive now—today!