On God and Money

"If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to."

- Dorothy Parker

But We'll Get Together Then

My child arrived just the other day,
He came to the world in the usual way.
But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay.
He learned to walk while I was away.
And he was talking 'fore I knew it, and as he grew,
He'd say, "I'm gonna be like you, dad.
You know I'm gonna be like you."

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then.
You know we'll have a good time then."

My son turned ten just the other day.
He said, "Thanks for the ball, dad, come on let's play.
Can you teach me to throw?" I said, "Not today,
I got a lot to do." He said, "That's ok."
And he walked away, but his smile never dimmed,
Said, "I'm gonna be like him, yeah.
You know I'm gonna be like him."

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then.
You know we'll have a good time then."

Well, he came from college just the other day,
So much like a man I just had to say,
"Son, I'm proud of you. Can you sit for a while?"
He shook his head, and he said with a smile,
"What I'd really like, dad, is to borrow the car keys.
See you later. Can I have them please?"

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, son?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then, dad.
You know we'll have a good time then."

I've long since retired and my son's moved away.
I called him up just the other day.
I said, "I'd like to see you if you don't mind."
He said, "I'd love to, dad, if I could find the time.
You see, my new job's a hassle, and the kid's got the flu,
But it's sure nice talking to you, dad.
It's been sure nice talking to you."
And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me,
He'd grown up just like me.
My boy was just like me.

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, son?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then, dad.
You know we'll have a good time then."

Cat's in the Cradle by Sandy and Harry Chapin

The Lord Is My Keeper: A Song of Degrees

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

My help cometh even from the LORD, whom hath made heav'n and earth.

He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.

Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.

The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.

The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.

The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore. -Psalms 121 (KJV)

Eeyore: On Life

"Hallo, Eeyore," said Christopher Robin, as he opened the door and came out. "How are you?"

"It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily.

"So it is," said Christopher Robin, looking up and around.

"...and freezing," Eeyore continued.

"Is it?" replied Christopher Robin.

"Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said brightening up a little, "we haven't had an earthquake lately."

The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne

Turn! Turn! Turn!

To Everything - Turn, turn, turn.
There is a season - turn, turn, turn.
And a time for every purpose under heaven.
A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap.
A time to kill, a time to heal.
A time to laugh, a time to weep.
To everything, turn, turn, turn.
There is a season - turn, turn, turn.
And a time for every purpose under heaven.

Pete Seeger, adapted from Ecclesiastes

I Went to a Marvellous Party by Noel Coward

Quite for no reason,
I'm here for the Season and high as a kite.
Living in error
with Maud at Cape Ferrat, which anyway couldn't be right.
Everyone's here and frightfully gay,
nobody cares what others might say.
Seems really much queerer than Rome at it's height;
and yesterday night -

I went to a marvellous party, with Oona and Nadia and Nell.
It was out in fresh air and when we went there,
we went as we were, which was Hell.
Poor Grace started singing at midnight,
and didn't stop singing till four.
We knew the excitement was bound to begin
when Laura got blind on Dubonnet and gin
and scratched her veneer with a Cartier pin:
I couldn't have liked it more.

I went to a marvellous party, I must say the fun was intense.
We all had to do what the people we knew
would be doing a hundred years hence.
Dear Cecil arrived wearing armour,
some shells and a black feather boa.
Poor Millicent wore a surrealist comb
made of bits of mosaic from St. Peter's in Rome,
But the weight was so great that she had to go home;
I couldn't have liked it more.

People's behaviour when away from Belgravia
would certainly make you aghast.
So much the variety, while watching Society
all as they're scampering past.
If you have any mind at all,
Gibbon's divine "Decline and Fall"
seems pretty flimsy, no more than a whimsy...
By way of contrast, on Saturday last -

I went to a marvellous party, we didn't start dinner till ten.
And young Bobbie Carr
did a stunt at the bar with a lot of extraordinary men.
Dear Baba arrived with a turtle,
which shattered us all to the core.
The Grand Duke was dancing a foxtrot with me,
when suddenly Cyril screamed, "Fiddledidee!"
and ripped off his trousers and jumped in the sea:
I couldn't have liked it more.

I went to a marvellous party, Elise made her entrance with May.
You'd never have guessed
from her fisherman's vest that her bust had been whittled away.
Poor Lulu got fried on Chianti and talked about esprit de corps.
Maurice made a couple of passes at Gus,
and Freddie who hates any kind of a fuss,
did half the Big Apple and twisted his truss:
I couldn't have liked it more.

I went to a marvellous party, we played the most wonderful game.
Maureen disappeared
and came back in a beard, and we all had to guess at her name!
We talked about aging with grace, and Elsie, who's seventy-four,
said "A - it's a question of being sincere;
and B - if you're supple, you've nothing to fear."
Then she swung upside down from a glass chandelier:
I couldn't have liked it more.

Live! Life's a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!

Freud and the Fundamentalist Urge

"According to Freud, we crave strong leaders whose simple dictrines will account for our sufferings, identify our enemies, focus our energies and give us, more enduring than wine or even love, a sense of being whole."

From "Freud and the Fundamentalist Urge" by Mark Edmundson
New York Times Magazine, pp 15-18. April 30, 2006

From the Bible (KJV)

"For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."

Psalms 30:5

The Art of Doing Nothing

"...How do you do nothing?" asked Pooh, after he wondered for a long time.

"Well, it's when people call out at you just as you're going off to do it,
'What are you going to do Christopher Robin?'
and you say, 'Oh nothing,'
and then you go and do it."

"Oh, I see," said Pooh.

"This is a nothing sort of thing we're doing now," said Christopher Robin.

Oh, I see," said Pooh again.

"It just means going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering."

An excerpt from The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff