Valuing your life and what you do is the way to steer a course of success.
All my life I’ve needed a rudder to go with my oars, and that rudder has always come in the form of words. Those words never had to be mine. I didn’t mind copying the great philosophers and writers. Each year I set words of commitment and direction to my life, these words helped me make all subsequent decisions so that I stayed on track.
When 19 years old, I wrote this…
A LONG CONTRACT (for me)
Hobbes maintains that survival is basic in nature and therefore ought to be paramount in man’s value system as well.
To Patrick Henry’s question, is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Hobbes would have answered “absolutely!” How precious is life itself to you? Are there certain advantages and qualities of life without which it would not be worth living to you?
How precious life and living is for me. In my absence what sweet revenge for then do people know my support. But what then of my support if all I want is appreciation? Love so paramount in my life support system. Love and all of its intricacies being the fine line of my sanity.
And yet I know deep inside of my soul that happiness is synonymous with life and that it can be found anywhere. Comradery the loving and the living of friends. Enjoyment and freshness of one sweet hello, one new soul to learn about all the while knowing that the lessons are of myself. The reflections of my own tears, sadness, happiness and joy. And those who stay and stand by and for me through the years like the growing process of the redwood. The more and more I know the strong the broader, the taller I glow. Delving deep into my soul for new things to share with an old friend. The bond being cleaner and more beautiful.
My sons the reflection of years spent in service to my being. The vehicle for purity and time spent; love that went. And so now I see in my years the longing for the total acceptance that thus far only my sons have given, possibly all that I allow. Because I know that the real total acceptance is only within and is not coming from anyone else. So to life — the sweetest gift and all the beginnings are from there. All else that I create within my life, I must own. Even should it be chains and slavery.
I changed no words; this is an accurate historical accounting of what was written. Circa 1976
