Shower the People...

I heard this old James Taylor song over the radio, on my way to work this morning.

Shower the People

You can play the game and you can act out the part
Though you know it wasn't written for you
But tell me, how can you stand there with your broken heart
Ashamed of playing the fool
One thing can lead to another; it doesn't take any sacrifice
Oh, father and mother,and sister and brother
if it feels nice, don't think twice (yes)

Shower the people you love with love
Show them the way that you feel
Things are gonna be just fine if you only will(do as i say, yeah)
Shower the people you love with love
Show them the way that you feel
Things are gonna be much better if you only will

You can run but you cannot hide
This is widely known
And what you plan to do with your foolish pride
When you're all by yourself alone
Once you tell somebody the way that you feel
You can feel it beginning to ease
I think it's true what they say about the squeaky wheel
Always getting the grease.

Better to shower the people you love with love
(Yes and) show them the way that you feel
(I know) Things are gonna be just fine if you only will
(what i'd like to do to you)
Shower the people you love with love
Show them the way you feel
Things are gonna be much better if you only will

Shower the people you love with love
Show them the way that you feel

They say in every life
They say the rain must fall
Just like the pouring rain
Make it rain
Make it rain
Love, love, love is sunshine oh
Make it rain
Love, love, love is sunshine yeah

I've always liked this song, but I found myself thinking that if more people paid attention to the lines, a lot more would love it.

There's a Kris Kringle category we're having this year which goes, "Ano sa tingin mo ang soundtrack ng buhay ng baby mo?"

I figure, I would have lived a really good life, if at my funeral, somebody would say that I had this for my life's soundtrack.

Shower the people you love with love...

What's In Your Dash?

I first heard this poem by Linda Ellis quoted on a CD..

The Dash Poem
by Linda Ellis

I read of a man who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
From the beginning to the end

He noted that first came the date of her birth
And spoke the following date with tears,
But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years

For that dash represents all the time
That she spent alive on earth.
And now only those who loved her
Know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not how much we own;
The cars, the house, the cash,
What matters is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard.
Are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left,
That can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough
To consider what’s true and real
And always try to understand
The way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger,
And show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives
Like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect,
And more often wear a smile
Remembering that this special dash
Might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy is being read
With your life’s actions to rehash
Would you be proud of the things they say
About how you spent your dash?

©1996 Linda Ellis

http://www.thedashmovie.com/

This is a good read, albeit "scary". Scares me to think that my dash, with all that I still have left undone & unspoken, could be a short one. But borrowed time is all we really ever have, isn't it? No negotiations, no bargaining for more.

Used in conversation, the word "between" has this connotation of "limbo" or "transit". In between jobs. In between relationships. In between here and there. Funny how we pay most attention to "start" and "end", to "here" and "there", when in fact, just as the poem says, what's most important is what's between birth and death.

Life is what happens in between.

So, what's in your dash?

:)

Of Whales & Fairies...

I saw this video in a business convention a couple of weeks back, and until now, the images are still stuck in my head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeXuZexUIc4

For some weird reason, I ended up crying after seeing it.

Growing up, kids are always taught to color within the lines, literally and figuratively. We even carry this with us as we get older. Sadly, needing to be right or to do things right stifles our creativity and even our sense of self. Staying within the lines sometimes ends up to mean staying inside the box.

This video from the Japanese Ad Council was a pretty good reminder that it's ok to let kids' (and even our) imagination run wild.

And it's in that line of thinking that I ended up loving this picture of my inaanak, Gabbie.

I had promised her butterfly wings for Halloween, and although it took a while, I eventually got her something close to what she first wanted.

It was so funny though that she wanted to wear it upside-down, saying that the pointed part should be stick up. So funny how she came up with the idea of using her frilly socks for gloves. Perfect little Dyosa.

Mom wanted to correct the orientation of the wings, saying she'd quickly ruin her new costume with how she was wearing it. Kept her from doing so. After all, the costume fit exactly what Gabbie had in mind, right Gab? :)

One Day as a Lion

I first saw this John Gotti quote as Pitt's YM status message. (Salamat ulit Pitt!)

"It's better to live one day as a lion than a hundred years as a lamb."

True, true.

Turns out that the quote, or a picture of it least, inspired the name of the band, "One Day as A Lion".

I haven't listened to how their music sounds, but I've picked up some good lines from the lyrics:

"If you fear dying then you're already dead" -- from If You Fear Dying
"One day I say today we live as a lion" -- from One Day as a Lion

Something to keep in mind. Better yet, something to live out. :)