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The Deserata

Paladin wrote on 6/24/2006 12:38:19 PM :

 

        To Me,this is the most beautiful and moving piece of writing..

                     These  ARE  words to live by

The Deserata

 

                   The Deserata

 

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, & remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly & clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud & agressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain & bitter; for always there will be greater and lessor persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many people strive for high ideals; Be yourself.

Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity & disenchantment it transcends time and space. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of Spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome disipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees & the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therfore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive God to be, and whatever your labors & aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its shame, drudgery & broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

Be Careful. Take Care. Strive to be Happy.

Found in old St. Pauls Church in Baltimore circa. 1692
Writer unknown

macdoug wrote on 6/24/2006 3:26:34 PM :
Hey Paladin.
To true! definitely words of life!
However there is something you should know.

The Desiderata was written by Max Ehrmann in the 1920s,
not "Found in Old St. Paul's Church in 1692"

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence....

The Confused History of "Desiderata" as I have found it is...

The author is Max Ehrmann, a poet and lawyer from Terre Haute, Indiana, who lived from 1872 to 1945. It has been reported that Desiderata was inspired by an urge that Ehrmann wrote about in his diary:

"I should like, if I could, to leave a humble gift -- a bit of chaste prose that had caught up some noble moods."

Around 1959, the Rev. Frederick Kates, the rector of St. Paul's Church in Baltimore, Maryland, used the poem in a collection of devotional materials he compiled for his congregation. (Some years earlier he had come across a copy of Desiderata.) At the top of the handout was the notation, "Old St. Paul's Church, Baltimore A.C. 1692." The church was founded in 1692.

As the material was handed from one friend to another, the authorship became clouded. Copies with the "Old St. Paul's Church" notation were printed and distributed liberally in the years that followed. It is perhaps understandable that a later publisher would interpret this notation as meaning that the poem itself was found in Old St. Paul's Church, dated 1692. This notation no doubt added to the charm and historic appeal of the poem, despite the fact that the actual language in the poem suggests a more modern origin. The poem was popular prose for the "make peace, not war" movement of the 1960s.

When Adlai Stevenson died in 1965, a guest in his home found a copy of Desiderata near his bedside and discovered that Stevenson had planned to use it in his Christmas cards. The publicity that followed gave widespread fame to the poem as well as the mistaken relationship to St. Paul's Church.

As of 1977, the rector of St. Paul's Church was not amused by the confusion. Having dealt with the confusion "40 times a week for 15 years," he was sick of it.

This misinterpretation has only added to the confusion concerning whether or not the poem is in the public domain.

By the way, Desiderata is Latin for "Things to be Desired."

We should all go placidly.

I have a very large jig-saw puzzle of the poem mounted and framed, hanging in the entrance way to my home. I see it and reflect on it often.

Thanks for your post.
Paladin wrote on 6/24/2006 4:21:56 PM :

The Desiderata was written by Max Ehrmann in the 1920s,
not "Found in Old St. Paul's Church in 1692"

 

     Yes I had read this much,but being just a wee bit of a romantic,I never pursued it farther.

   All honors to Max Ehrman, a child of the universe

macdoug wrote on 6/26/2006 10:06:35 PM :
Paladin.

I have to tell you...a long time ago, I received as a birthday present, I guess I was nine, maybe ten. The present was wrapped in a bright blue paper. It was not the largest or smallest, I think it was the paper that caught my eye, that made me open it last.

At that time, of black and white television, there was a series that aired every Thursday. The story line consisted of someone obtaining the services of a hired gun. The setting was the "old" west. Every week this hired gun would open and read a letter from a compromised damsel or perhaps a cheated cowhand or even on occaision, a bureaucrat in need of his special talents. AND, every week, he would reach under his belt buckle which depicted a chess piece (the rook) and pull out his business card...Paladin! It starred Richard Boone. Everyone, including Dean Martin, Chuch Connors and Steve McQueen, all had bit parts in the series.

I'm curious. Do you know of this TV show or how did you choose your monicker, "PALADIN"?

Just Curious.
Paladin wrote on 6/26/2006 11:27:52 PM :

 

 

Have Gun,Will Travel,was probably the first TV show I ever watched.My first TV hero.

  I spent a whole weekend watching the first season when it came out on DVD.Laughed my head off,but it brought back fond memories.  The show has its own web page.

   Like Paladin,I like a refined drink,(Scotch),can quote the Bible, literature or poetry,(I love books),have travel far and wide,(via the internet mostly),and in my younger days was even hired for my ,(shall we say) skills ,that I picked up in the military and otherwise.

     Unlike him,I am not a man of means,nor am I swauve,lol.

     I do collect things relating to the Knight Chess piece.Key rings especially.

 

        Who says TV doen't influence people?

macdoug wrote on 6/27/2006 11:07:01 PM :
Wow.
Too cool.

So there I was in my holster and six shooter. Don't bother taking my gun...I've got my deringer behind my belt buckle! And the business cards...how frickin' cool is that!

Yup, RIchard Boone at his best.

I also travelled. Mostly Canada. Back in 73 a buddy and I travelled the Trans Canada from Cape Spear NFLD to the Queen Charlottes'. It was supposed to take us two months - on paper at least. We ended up spending almost a month and a half in NFLD. Amazing province!

Since then I have studied under some amazing Sensei's. Kendo and Jiujitsu. I discussed the belt system with them and I retain my blue belt in both disciplines, even tho' I have been training for the last 20 years in both. I have even been known to show up wiith a bungie cord for a belt from time-to-time.

Scotch. The veritable nectar of the gods. Single malt or on a dare, even the blended is better than...well, let's just say it's pure nectar!

Neither means or suave am I either. I hear you.

Collecting? Model aircraft. Preferably propeller driven and vintage WWI or WWII. I also watched 12:O'Clock High when I was a kid.

TV...ah, good ol' TV!

I will keep my eye out for novel Knight pieces.

Talk soon.
Paladin wrote on 6/28/2006 9:35:30 AM :

 

As  a teen I started out under Leo Bourque here,met some guys who invited me to 'after hours" courses,where rank,rules or the law meant nothing.

 I've always loved the P-51 Mustang,and used to love 12 o'clock hight myself untill they killed of Robert Lansing's character because they thought he was too old.

   Guess who champions seniors rights now? lol

macdoug wrote on 6/28/2006 11:22:33 PM :
I think I spent more time in "after hours" than I did in class time. My sensai referred to me (in class time) as Tora San. After some time, I became aware that this referred to my ability to adapt to being totally, beat about the head and chest and bounce back with (some) wisdom - BUT, always bounce back. Sometimes, I thought I would have made a great "Seventh Samurai."

Interesting you should mention the P51. I never warmed up to it like I did the P40, P47 or the Bristol Beaufighter. My "picture" is/was of a Corgi model I just purchased. I am a collector. My wife says I am an insatiable hobby store denizen. My Dad was RCAF and I caught the flying bug from him. I have begged, borrowed and bought my way on to just about every prop driven WWI and WWII vintage aircraft that I could. If I wasn't 4F, according to my Dad, I would probably be flying. So I took up modeling and flying the second seat when I can. Does life get better than this. Well, of course it does! One could own their own Bristol Beaufighter and hangar it somewhere and take it up every other weekend. Perhaps in my next life. Okay, I'm not ruling out the Super 7 or 649!

Did you ever see "Combat"? That was another show I discovered when my Dad got transfered (RCAF) to California in the early 60s, to fill in the Americans (USAF) on the intricacies of fuselage to wing design and wing chord to lift ratio. I spent 6 months there (mainly on the beach at Laguna or at a facility called, Santa Monica USAF Experimental Park. No props, I wasn't really interested. The beach, on the other hand...It's absolutely true what they say about California women!!!!! Okay, I was young, but so were they!!!!!!

The P51, as you may know was a conglomerate cooperation between the British, Supermarine Spitfire group and U.S. North American design firms. If you squint and look at the Mustang you can see similaritiies to the Spit. It was a joint effort to produce a long range, high altitude, superior combat fighter. Fortunately, it worked and the Mustang brought the bombers through what must have been a living hell of anti aircraft and defensive fighters to their targets, aiding in shortening the war. The Brits caught up years later, introducing the Supermarine Spitfire Mark V and VI, which included some of the advances worked out for the Mustang. Smaller scale factories, more handcrafting as opposed to mass manufacturing....

I do go on, don't I ?

I'm off to my trundle bed. Hope to talk to you later.

Take care and "seniors", they are our raison d'etre. Bless 'em!
macdoug wrote on 6/26/2006 10:09:25 PM :
RE: THE ROMANTIC

Do not let the romantic die!

If there is one thing I know and that I will take to my grave...

It will be that I will be the romantic.