"Don't let yesterday use up too much of today." ~ Will Rogers It was getting late and the conversations in German, French, English and Spanish were starting to wear on my already tired brain. The year was 1993 and I had just completed a bicycle tour around Bavaria with a friend of mine, Charlie (the …
Category: Observations on Life
Live life to the fullest
I was watching the reality show, Deadliest Catch, the day before yesterday. This tribute episode featured Captain Phil Harris, who died in February of this year. A man who lived life to the fullest - and then some! - Captain Harris made a number of interesting statements, one of which I would like to share …
Thank you WordPress Freshly Pressed!
This blog is dedicated to those human beings who chose or who choose to live extraordinary lives. Rather than follow the herd, these thought leaders cultivated an understanding of the principles that govern the life itself and acted in some way or another in relation to that knowledge. These are people who went the extra …
What matters more than your talents.
Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, recently gave a graduation address at his alma mater, Princeton University. He made the case that our character is defined not by the gifts we're born with, but by the choices we make as we move through life. Each of us is endowed with a unique combination of …
The Spirit of Adventure
An old friend of mine mentioned that she is moving in a couple of weeks and that a friend of hers was going to accompany her in true "Thelma and Louise" style. I don't remember much about the 1991 movie starring Susan Sarandon (Louise Sawyer) and Geena Davis (Thelma), apart from a poignant quote by …
Greatness, Service and Answering the Call
“The heights by great men reached and kept, Were not attained by sudden flight, But they, while their companions slept, Were toiling upward in the night.” ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow A friend of mine sent this lovely quote to me yesterday morning. It filled me with a deep sense of appreciation for those who have dedicated …
Apathy, Anger and the American Way
I was disappointed yesterday to read in our local paper that only 28.3% of registered voters took the time to vote in yesterday's primary election. The article entitled "Apathy defeats anger in primary election" went on to note that only 14.82% of voters turned out for the 2008 Presidential primary election! The percentages border on embarrassing. …
The Benefit of the Doubt
So often in life we are forced to verify things heard, seen or received second or third-hand. Imagine this scenario. You heard a rumor, a story or a passing remark about something or someone you are responsible for and you find it necessary to investigate a little further. You learned from previously bungled experiences that …
First Flight
Peering through the ski goggles that kept my eyes from the sting of sub-zero air, I looked down through my feet at the frozen ground, which now stood 2,500 feet below me. It was my first flight in an ultralight, in fact, my first flight in a small aircraft. I somehow had convinced my parents …
My Evolving Thoughts on Gnosis
"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy is when men are afraid of the light." ~ Plato There was an interesting article in the New York Times 'Opinionator' yesterday that compared the views of optimistic Darwinians and pessimistic Darwinians on the concept of morality ("Moral Camouflage or …
Gregory Hake 