During our journey there were two occasions that we celebrated by honoring someone's talent.  Everyone is recognized by a special party, but it has nothing to do with age or birthdate - it is in recognition of uniqueness and contribution to life.  They believe that the purpose for the passage of time is to allow a person to become better, wiser, to express more and more of one's beingness.  So if you are a better person this year than last, and only you know that for certain, then you call for a party.  When you say you are ready, everyone honors that.

The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each others life.  Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof.

We all laughed when Oota told how the government sometimes provided housing for the Aborigines.  The people slept in the yard and used the houses for storage.  That brought up their definition of a gift.  According to the tribe, a gift is only a gift when you give someone what the person wants.  It is not a gift if you give what you want them to have.  A gift has no attachment.  It is given unconditionally.  The persons receiving it have the right to do anything with the gift:  use it, destroy it, give it away, whatever.  It is theirs without condition, and the giver expects nothing in return.  If it doesn't fit that criteria, it is not a gift.  It should be classified as something else.  I had to agree that government gifts and, unfortunately, most of what my society would consider a gift would be classified differently by these people.

You raise your voice when you should reinforce your argument.

There is really nothing you must be.  And there is nothing you must do.  There is really nothing you must have.  And there is nothing you must know.  There is really nothing you must become.  However it helps to understand that fire burns, and when it rains the earth gets wet... "Whatever, there are consequences.  Nobody is exempt," said the Master.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit

I believe in everything; nothing is sacred, I believe in nothing; everything is sacred, …Ha Ha Ho Ho Hee Hee

The line between good and evil, hope and despair, does not divide the world between "us" and "them".  It runs down the middle of every one of us.  I do not want to talk about what you understand about this world.  I want to know what you will do about it.  I do not want to know what you hope.  I want to know what you will work for.  I do not want your sympathy for the needs of humanity.  I want your muscle.  As the wagon driver said when they came to a long hard hill,  "Them that's going on with us, get out and push.  Them that ain't, get out of the way."

To get through this life and see it realistically poses a problem.  There is a dark, evil, hopeless side to life that includes suffering, death, and ultimate oblivion as our earth falls into a dying sun.  Nothing really matters. 
On the other hand, the best side of our humanity finds us determined to make life as meaningful as possible NOW; to defy our fate.  Everything matters.  Everything. 
It is easy to become immobilized between these two points of view - to see them both so clearly that one cannot decide what to be or do.
Laughter is what gives me forward motion at such intersections. We are the only creatures that both laugh and weep.  I think it's because we are the only creatures that see the difference between the way things are and the way they might be.  Tears bring relief.  Laughter brings release. Some years ago I came across a phrase in Greek - asbestos gelos - unquenchable laughter.  I traced it to Homer's Iliad, where it was used to descibe the laughter of the gods.  That's my kind of laughter.  And he who laughs, lasts.

I believe imagination is stronger than knowledge - that myth is more potent than history.  I believe that dreams are more powerful than facts - That hope always triumphs over experience - That laughter is the only cure for grief.  And I believe that love is stronger than death.