Let’s All Get Inspired, Shall We?

Someone close to me – let’s call him, oh I don’t know, how ‘bout Viper – shared with me yesterday what he said was his favorite quote, which he attributed to Howard Zinn (if it’s not really Zinn, blame Viper, not me). Anyway, I don’t know if Viper intended it this way or not, but I thought about it in the context of President Obama’s State-of-the-Union speech. Here it is:

To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives...The future is an infinite succession of presents,... and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.

I like that. And since he shared that with me, I got back to him with one of my favorite quotes, which is from Woody Allen:

Why does man kill? He kills for food. And not only food, frequently there must also be a beverage.

And that got me thinking about yet another one of my favorite quotes, from James Audubon I think – which is along the lines of:

The woods would be quiet indeed, if no bird sang save for he who sang the best.

Okay, I think we all know what we need to do today: 1) stay hopeful, 2) don’t kill anyone for either food or beverage, and 3) if we find ourselves out in the woods, start singing, Buster!


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Kind of in keeping with our theme of the day, here’s the Wallflowers with Our Duncan Funk Song of the Day.

Title: Beautiful Side of Somewhere
Artist: The Wallflowers