Musing

Where did the year go? Did it sail away on a fairy ship, into the city of Calendonia far from any mortal shore?

For where indeed did our hopes and dreams for the year go? Did we sit in some flowery field among the lotus eaters, and dine on the food of forgetfulness until such time as this, when it is too late to dream?

What blasphemy this! To claim it is too late to dream! For when indeed can it ever become so late in the day of a life that no dream can grow and bloom in the life to bring it joy? Best pick out your coffin then, for you have arthritis of the soul and have hardened arteries of your imagination.

For what indeed is the cost of a dream? A moment of mind play that you can make come to life by the application of time and effort. Indeed all we have in this world is time, given by the Eternal, and our duty is to put the effort in that will accomplish such simple things as dreams. They are simple things, after all, in the light of the stars of this universe

How then can you say where did the time go! You know where it went, to efforts not of your choosing, toward the dreams of others, frittered in tiny patches of moments at things you thought to make happy, but which brought no joy, no furthering of the dream.

Cease now to waste the resource of time before you. Let each day see some progress toward your dream or goal. Let each day's close bring with it satisfaction for seeing that shining vision and taking one more step toward it.

Let love of the dream propel you on when the way seems lonely or the path bitter with small steps you deem unworthy to count. For the bitter of continuing will turn sweet from the alchemy of reaching that blessed shore.

Today is:

Bizarre Bazaar -- Christmas shop until you drop, in Richmond, Virginia

Chichibu Yomatsuri -- Chichibu shrine, Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, through tomorrow

Festival of the Finger Stalls -- Fairy Calendar

Hanukkah -- Jewish (begins sunset on the 1st)

Independence Day -- United Arab Emirates

International Day for the Abolition of Slavery

Lover's Fair -- Belgium

National Day -- Laos

National Fritters Day

National Roof-Over-Your-Head Day

Oshiroi Matsuri -- Fukuoka, Japan (festival to ask for good harvest next year)

Pan American Health Day

Special Education Day

St. Bibiana's Day (patron against hangovers)

Walter Plinge Day -- UK


Birthdays Today:

Monica Seles, 1973
Lucy Liu, 1968
Cathy Lee Crosby, 1948
Gianni Versace, 1946
Maria Callas, 1923
Randolph Hearst, 1915
Charles Ringling, 1863
Georges Seurat, 1859


Today in History:

The University of Leipzig opens, 1409
Dedication of the Touro Synagogue, in Newport, Rhode Island, the first synagogue in what became the United States, 1763
Napoleon defeats the Russians and Austrians at Austerlitz, 1805
The first Savings bank in the US opens, the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society, 1816
US President James Monroe declares his "Monroe Doctrine", 1823
US President James K. Polk declares it is the "Manifest Destiny" of the US to expand into the West, 1845
Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the US, in NYC, 1867
Pu Yi (Hsuan-T'ung) became China's Last Emperor at age 2, 1908
Following 19 years of Ford Model T production, the Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Model A, 1927
A team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, 1942
Riots break out in Jerusalem in response to the approval of the 1947 UN Partition Plan, 1947
The Granma yacht reaches the shores of Cuba's Oriente province and Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and 80 other members of the 26th of July Movement disembark to initiate the Cuban Revolution, 1956
Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai, and Umm Al Quwain form the United Arab Emirates, 1971
Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state, 1988
A coalition led by Chancellor Helmut Kohl wins the first free all-German elections since 1932, 1990
The United Kingdom devolves political power in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive, 1999