“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” ~Antoine De Saint Exupery

I like this quote. It seems to express a sentiment that resonates for me. Inspire ... be inspired ... look for what might be.  The potential for amazing abounds.

In my experience, I really like to identify an objective or outcome and then navigate to it, enjoying the journey as much as possible, appreciating the complexity, challenges/adventure, the joy, sometimes rare shimmering moments of majesty.  Unfortunately, part of every journey is fraught with perils ... pitfalls ... pain.  It seems interesting to me that pain really only expresses itself where things matter.  And it might be a bit circuitous ... I'll think about that ...  Do we discover what really matters by imaginging it lost or damaged.  What are we willing to sacrifice for that.  It is certain that the potential for pain, one way or another, is a guide dog in our blind (rash ... impetuous ... selfish ... bunches of great descriptive words here!) perhaps, impassioned, stumblings.

I'm thinking about that sniper show, where the shooter disengages from the idea of killing a person and instead perceives that trigger squeeze as a means of limiting the target's ability to cause pain (ie killhisbuddies) ... the enemies life doesn't matter, the objectives of the team matter ... the sniper can be a lot more effective if he doesn't sweat the objectives (surely someone at a higher level has a moral compass on this thing). Or ... these drugged out suicide warriors ... not warriors, pawns ... taken to a place where life just doesn't really matter. With an eternal view life  certainly could become less significant.  My point is ... things which matter inform us of what we value, those things truly define who we really are.  Who we really are is defined by what we value.  What we value is identified by what we do ... our actions. Humans believe what is seen over what is heard ... it's the whole "walk the walk or don't talk the talk" kind of thing.

"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." I Corinthians 13:11  Hmmm, when I went looking for this verse I landed on this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_Corinthians_13   I Corinthians 13 is extremely significant to me. I would never tattoo myself, but I have been asked the if you would what/where would it be so many times that I have developed an idea of what I would chose tattoo-wise: So tiny and light in the delicate skin where my wrist meets my palm ... right there where I see the little blue veins  ... would read this : protects trusts hopes perseveres ~ loves  I need to be informed by  that verse especially.

I'm thinking about this quote ... it seems fairly easy to get "jacked up" on the grandeur of the endless immensity of the sea.  I have recently longed for something.  Wow.  I saw the sea ... it is immensely alluring.
Here's the ironic subset of the idea expressed by this quote ... I am unable to go very far in to the waters without some type of ship.  The vessel that houses me  (... my soul ...), simply cannot navigate in to the endless immensity of the sea.  The body wants to ... the soul is unable.

It would be childish of me to believe otherwise ... childish talk that an adult can't walk.  The offspring of my choices make choices. Which is to say; I made some choices which preclude othe choices.  What's that quote I like? "Master your choices, or become the slave of their consequences."~Michael Rawls and this; "We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them."~Kahlil Gibran  The Prophet seems to get it.

...Now my brother has called and I stepped away from this post to talk with him.  Sure is good to have a brother ... my brother.  One of my neighbors was killed in a car wreck this week, which I told him about, because he is understanding of the shawdows that fall on me there ... he told me that he almost t-boned someone on the way home last night ... I shudder to think of what that would do to him ... he brushes it off saying he would just be eating airbag.  My brother.  I've lost track of my rambling here and have also used up my spare time. 
My husband resents the time I spend writing and thinking here ... this doesn't contribute to his life and so must be a waste of my time ... I've been cutting back and will most likely continue to do so ... we'll see.