“No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn.”
This is a quote that I think at least a few people will recognize. If you don’t recognize it then I’ll put it in multiple-choice form. Albert Einstein, Jim Morrison, or Edgar Allen Poe.
I ran 2.3 miles today. I am going to have to start running two or three times a day on the weekends until I can stretch my stamina more. I am already falling behind my daily average and I am not going to get accustomed to 2.62 miles everyday any time soon.
“No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn.”
This quote belongs to Jim Morrison and it is one the best quotes I have ever read. I interpret it as an urgency to seize every day and to react because in this life you live each day only once. And without stepping on the toes of any certain religions, the quote expresses the notion that regardless of what God you believe in, no matter what doctrines or tenets you value, and regardless of what eternity you see your soul commingling in the great ether with forever, no eternal reward will justify the gift of life and the simple opportunity to live, right here and right now, being neglected or squandered by lack of desire or fear of failure to succeed. I believe that real happiness and contentment is directly proportional to the large sum of failures that precede it.
Having said that, the other strength this quote has is an arbitrary reference to no one particular religion. I, as everyone else, have my own strong beliefs and disbeliefs in the hundreds of different religions that exist around the world and I have come to realize that religion and conviction in different beliefs has been the primary source of war even preceding the bible.
Religion is a very thin sheet of ice to skate on and even as I type these words I wonder what misconstrued opinions might be balled up like a clay form and reshaped by another’s thoughts and interpretations. It is common sense to me that religious beliefs should not be persecuted and it is a humble matter of manners that we should not argue over religion or start wars on their behalf.
Now, having said all of this, America is a monumental beacon of religious freedom. Our Constitution, with great heart and mind, made it that way. But America is also a democracy, which means that majority rules.
The mosque in New York City that might be built next to the void left by the crumbling of the World Trade Center Towers nearly a decade ago is one of the pettiest misuses of religion for political maneuvering I have ever seen. Yes, Muslims do have the right to build mosques and to worship freely, just as every other religion does, but for them to build at this site is absurd and a slap in the face to how weak and unengaged our leaders are when issues arise that may require stepping on a few toes. They could build that mosque anywhere…and they are going to build it there?! It is political maneuvering and yet another opportunity for America to get down on its hands and knees to apologize for being so great.
I would never go to Baghdad in Iraq or Mashhad in Iran to start breaking ground on a Catholic church or to erect a statue of a saint right next to a site they deem highly important and spiritual. Aside from the obvious fatal danger surrounding the idea of doing that, I simply would not do it because it is disrespectful to those people and their beliefs. There overwhelming majority is Muslim and I would have the decency to not impose my beliefs on them. Therefore, it is an obvious decision to me for whoever it is making the decisions in New York that this is very wrong.
2,069.0 miles to go.
This is a quote that I think at least a few people will recognize. If you don’t recognize it then I’ll put it in multiple-choice form. Albert Einstein, Jim Morrison, or Edgar Allen Poe.
I ran 2.3 miles today. I am going to have to start running two or three times a day on the weekends until I can stretch my stamina more. I am already falling behind my daily average and I am not going to get accustomed to 2.62 miles everyday any time soon.
“No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn.”
This quote belongs to Jim Morrison and it is one the best quotes I have ever read. I interpret it as an urgency to seize every day and to react because in this life you live each day only once. And without stepping on the toes of any certain religions, the quote expresses the notion that regardless of what God you believe in, no matter what doctrines or tenets you value, and regardless of what eternity you see your soul commingling in the great ether with forever, no eternal reward will justify the gift of life and the simple opportunity to live, right here and right now, being neglected or squandered by lack of desire or fear of failure to succeed. I believe that real happiness and contentment is directly proportional to the large sum of failures that precede it.
Having said that, the other strength this quote has is an arbitrary reference to no one particular religion. I, as everyone else, have my own strong beliefs and disbeliefs in the hundreds of different religions that exist around the world and I have come to realize that religion and conviction in different beliefs has been the primary source of war even preceding the bible.
Religion is a very thin sheet of ice to skate on and even as I type these words I wonder what misconstrued opinions might be balled up like a clay form and reshaped by another’s thoughts and interpretations. It is common sense to me that religious beliefs should not be persecuted and it is a humble matter of manners that we should not argue over religion or start wars on their behalf.
Now, having said all of this, America is a monumental beacon of religious freedom. Our Constitution, with great heart and mind, made it that way. But America is also a democracy, which means that majority rules.
The mosque in New York City that might be built next to the void left by the crumbling of the World Trade Center Towers nearly a decade ago is one of the pettiest misuses of religion for political maneuvering I have ever seen. Yes, Muslims do have the right to build mosques and to worship freely, just as every other religion does, but for them to build at this site is absurd and a slap in the face to how weak and unengaged our leaders are when issues arise that may require stepping on a few toes. They could build that mosque anywhere…and they are going to build it there?! It is political maneuvering and yet another opportunity for America to get down on its hands and knees to apologize for being so great.
I would never go to Baghdad in Iraq or Mashhad in Iran to start breaking ground on a Catholic church or to erect a statue of a saint right next to a site they deem highly important and spiritual. Aside from the obvious fatal danger surrounding the idea of doing that, I simply would not do it because it is disrespectful to those people and their beliefs. There overwhelming majority is Muslim and I would have the decency to not impose my beliefs on them. Therefore, it is an obvious decision to me for whoever it is making the decisions in New York that this is very wrong.
2,069.0 miles to go.
