I was looking for my brother's phone number last night. It has not yet made it into my address book, but is floating around on a piece of paper somewhere in my house. I spent about 30 minutes looking for it, sifting through the scraps, and eventually I gave up. I have a lot of bits of paper. Written on them are phone numbers, grocery lists, titles of books I want to read, movies that have been recommended, quotes that caught my attention, poems I've heard, questions I'd like answered, interesting articles, postcards from friends, and random thoughts and bits of information. These scraps are all over my house. I've tried to contain them in boxes and file folders, but every surface is still scattered with them. Periodically, I purge, shred and recycle, then immediately start collecting them again. Yesterday, I found this:
...universal values of
wisdom
intelligence
poise
tranquility
cooperation
unselfishness
responsibility
kindness
and protectiveness of all life forms
I have no idea where it came from or how long I've held on to it, but I know why I wrote it down. It is my manifesto; these are my values. I often do not succeed in upholding them (especially poise!) but they are what I am striving for. Someone else created this list. I copied it down. It gets mixed into the mess and disappears. But it reappears when I need it, and reminds me of who I want to be.
5 comments:
Do you have role models who you look to for their display of these qualities?
Hmmmmm. Good question. I guess I do, but not one person who embodies all these qualities. Different people affect me at different times. My grandmother has been a huge influence and I draw a lot of insipration from my friends. I read tons, but not as much for personal reasons as I'd like these days. The ideas more than the people writing them get me motivated. On my "to read" list are: Wendell Berry and Jane Jacobs (just picked up Nature of Economies). Any other suggestions are welcome!
Audrey Hepburn is one person I have long admired. She definitely embodied poise, but she also seemed to embody responsibility, kindness and unselfishness. After becoming a famous actor and getting to a place in her life where she could do or have anything, she moved away from that and dedicated herself to helping others through her work with UNICEF.
I guess as I evolve and grow, my influences do as well.
these remind me of who you are. xo
I would say you embody these values. At least from my perspective anyway.
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