For the past several years, I've set goals for the summertime to keep myself industrious and to remain purposeful. For the first four summers after I started teaching, I played soccer in a class at my local community college every day; and the last three summers, I've gone to Haiti with a local church, ending last summer by teaching summer school in Boston. This summer, I've decided not to commit to any serious activity. Instead, I plan to set small daily goals. These, I believe, will allow me the rest I hope for, while still keeping me purposeful. I don't know how the summer will unfold, but I do know that it will do so day by day. We'll see whether where my no-plans plan leads. I hope it leads somewhere pleasant. Thanks for reading.
I read part of a poem recently by one of my favorite poets. It reads: I envy not in any moods The captive void of noble rage The linnet born within the cage That never knew the summer woods. I envy not the beast that takes His license in the field of time Unfetter'd by the sense of crime To whom a conscience never wakes. Nor what may call itself as bles't The heart that never plighted troth But stagnates in the weeds of sloth Nor any want-begotten rest. I hold it true, whate'er befall I feel it, when I sorrow most 'Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all. At base, Tennyson contrasted a life of risk, and consequent pain, with one of security. He sides conclusively with the life of risk, and says he fails to envy those who have faced no hardship. I agree with him; and, for good or ill, his words are just as relevant today as they were in the nineteenth century. Like then, there are those today who choose to live their lives with as little risk as...
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