Nice Guys Finish Last
Back in the early days of high school, I loved watching "The Mask", starring Jim Carrey. In it, he mentions a book or newspaper article (I can't remember which now, and frankly, it's not relevant anyway) he wrote entitled "Nice Guys Finish Last". How true that title rings in my ears and in my life!
Let me tell you a simple story: There once was a man who had a piece of coal. One day a good friend of his came by to visit. He told the man how he was in search of a precious diamond of great worth. The man told his friend, "I have here a piece of coal I have been holding for a while now. It has the capacity of becoming a diamond. I know not the means of turning it into a diamond. However, you are my friend. Therefore, I will give you this piece of coal." At first, the friend objected; yet, the man insisted. So the friend took the coal, thanked him and went on his way.
After many days the friend came back and showed the man the diamond. The man was happy for his friend, yet deep down inside he regreted the chance of having something of great worth, which could have been his.
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quotes
- "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." (Ferris Bueller)
- "That's where the truth comes from, ladies and gentlemen...the gut. Do you know you have more nerve endings in your stomach than in your head? Look it up. Now, somebody's gonna say, 'I did look that up, and it's wrong.' Well, mister, that's because you looked it up in a book. Next time, try looking it up in your gut. I did, and my gut tells me that's how our nervous system works...The 'truthiness' is, anyone can read the news to you. I promise to feel the news at you." (Stephen T. Colbert from "The Colbert Report")
- "The world is not a dangerous place because of the people who are evil--it is because of the people who do nothing about it." (Albert Einstein)
- "When King Lear dies in Act Five do you know what William Shakespeare has written? He's written, He Dies. That's all, nothing more. No fan fare, no metaphor, no brilliant final words. The culmination of the most influential work of the dramatic literature is, He Dies...And yet every time I read those two words I find myself overwhelmed with dysphoria. And I know its only natural to be sad, but not because of the words 'he dies,' but because of the life we saw prior to the words. I've lived all five of my acts, Mahoney, and I am not asking you to be happy that I must go. I'm only asking that you turn the page. Continue reading. And let the next story begin. And if anyone ever asks what became of me, you relay my life in all its wonder and end it with a simple and modest, he died." (Mr. Magorium from "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium")
- "Life is pain - we've got to scrape the joy from it every chance we get." (Rod from "Hot Rod")
come, thou fount of every blessing
Come, thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
Mount of thy redeeming love.
Here I raise mine Ebeneezer;
Hither by thy help I'm come;
And I hope, by thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed his precious blood.
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let thy goodness,like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for thy courts above.
Tune my heart to sing thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
Mount of thy redeeming love.
Here I raise mine Ebeneezer;
Hither by thy help I'm come;
And I hope, by thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed his precious blood.
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let thy goodness,like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for thy courts above.
O Captain My Captain by Walt Whitman
O Captain my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Falling cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up-for you the flag is flung for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths for you the shores
a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You've fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and
done;
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Falling cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up-for you the flag is flung for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths for you the shores
a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You've fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and
done;
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
2 comments:
michael, this seriously needs to be updated. :) it's been too long since we've heard from you!
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