Month: November 2013

One lives in the hope of becoming a memory.
― Antonio Porchia

What do you hope to be remembered for?

Of course a steam engine is powered by steam, but that steam is created by burning coal, and the coal only burns because of the human energy of the person who shoveled the coal into the fire. What sustains us in any given moment is not necessarily as obvious as the steam that rises from the stack.

What fuels you in ways that would not be obvious to someone looking from the outside?

The Pilgrims declared a day of Thanksgiving knowing that nearly half of their number had died the first winter. Tisquantum (Squanto) helped the colonists to survive, knowing that Europeans had already decimated his people. Gratitude and giving come not only from abundance, but also from knowing its lack.

How do you find ways to be grateful and to give during the times when abundance feels very far away?

The story of Chanukah centers around the eternal flame in the Temple, the light that was never to go out, and how, once the Jews were able to return to their ruined and desecrated Temple, they were able to find a bit of consecrated oil to re-light that flame. That oil burned and burned, far longer than seemed possible, and the flame that had gone out offered the possibility of eternity once more.

When have you found the ability or resources to keep a light burning when it seemed inevitable that it would go out?

Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory, there would be no civilization, no society, no future.
― Elie Wiesel

What memory points you toward your future?