RAnthony

“You Reading This, Be Ready

Starting here, what do you want to remember?
How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
What scent of old wood hovers, what softened
sound from outside fills the air?

Will you ever bring a better gift for the world
than the breathing respect that you carry
wherever you go right now? Are you waiting
for time to show you some better thoughts?

When you turn around, starting here, lift this
new glimpse that you found; carry into evening
all that you want from this day. This interval you spent
reading or hearing this, keep it for life—

Whatever can anyone give you greater than now,
starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?”
― William Stafford, Ask Me: 100 Essential Poems of William Stafford

“By coincidence the near-breakdown of the talks occurred on the same day that the news media was allowed its only visit. Reporters had been kept several miles away from Camp David and fed largely useless scraps of information by spokesmen. Now they bussed in for a mere forty-five minutes and seated in bleachers to witness an evening ceremony featuring the US Marine band.

Even from a distance, the press corps could tell that all three leaders looked glum, and the talks were not going well. Beyond that, reporters got nothing. After the press buses were loaded to leave, Jerry Rafshoon noticed that Barbara Walters was not aboard. He found her hiding in a stall in the ladies room. She'd hoped in vain to stay behind and find out what was happening.”
― Jonathan Alter, His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life

“And as he drove on, the rainclouds dragged down the sky after him, for, though he did not know it, Rob McKenna was a Rain God. All he knew was that his working days were miserable and he had a succession of lousy holidays. All the clouds knew was that they loved him and wanted to be near him, to cherish him, and to water him.”
― Douglas Adams, So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

“After leaving office, Carter often argued that the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, written by Canadian and French diplomats at the United Nations and popularized by Elanor Roosevelt, was akin to the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution in its importance. He believed that the values in it were descended from the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew, where Jesus teaches people how they should treat one another.”
― Jonathan Alter, His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life