Anthony Brickey

“The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

“He tried to measure his day
by tallying the hours on his wrist.
I wiped it off and called him a prisoner.
He placed the hours on a scale
with hours from former days to compare.
I took a hammer and broke it all.
He bent down and picked up the
shards of minutes first
then swept the seconds.
I told him he’d missed a spot;
there were some sparkling specks left.
'What are they?' he asked.
'Those are moments,' I said.
'What are they made of?' he asked.
They are times, I thought, when you win a race
or win a heart.
They are times when you give birth
or lay something, someone to rest.
When you wake up in the morning
with a smile because anything is possible.
When someone compliments the thing
you hate most about yourself.
Times when you are embarrassed.
Times when you are hurtful.
Times when you relish in a hearty meal.
Times when you service others and
are content with a well-spent day.
'What are they made of?' he asked again.
'They are made up of times when we are fully present.'
I picked up one of the specks with the tip
of my finger.
'Do you remember this?' I asked.
'Of course,' he said, 'I was whistling in the kitchen
that morning.'
'Why?' I asked.
'Because of the knowledge
that I was loved.”
― Kamand Kojouri

“Unlike the Marines, who are given macho monikers like “jarheads,” the Coast Guard had long been denigrated in military circles as fey “puddle jumpers.” But just as 9/11 brought a newfound respect to firemen, Katrina did the same for the reputation of the Coast Guard. At the peak of rescue operations they had 62 aircraft, 30 cutters, and 111 small boats stepping up in rescue and recovery operations. They did it all one person at a time.”
― Douglas G. Brinkley, The Great Deluge

“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche