(Was going through some old Reader's Digests, 1974, etc., and came across this;pertinent to this time in our lives. This was written by Hal Borland about Spring in his book "This Hill, This Valley")

"This is the season when I can listen only so long to a recital of the world's shortcomings. Then I must go out, and see the world itself. Last night I heard a long harangue by a man who is full of the world's ills, and today I took a walk up the mountainside and found that though a hundred things may be wrong, a thousand things are right and completely in order.

Water still runs downhill, making brooks that sing and rivers that flow seaward. Grass still sends up green shoots in the pasture. Robins strut on the lawn and sing their mating call from the trees. Daffodils come to blossom. Maples begin to open wine-red bloom.

The world is all right. The ills are among men........"

-- Bonnie (chilton@stateline-isp.com), October 18, 2001

Answers

Hello Bonnie,,thank you for your inspiring and reflective post,,,true,,the ills are among men,,not our wonderful earth,,although, it too suffers because of wrong human decisions.

,Because of your lovely post, I am going to our Nature Walk park here in a place called Moiese,,MT,,,quiet, all nature sounds,,safe and inviting,,,Have a great day ,,,Patsy

-- Patsy, MT (cozyhollow-gal@care2.com), October 18, 2001.

Boy! Did I need to hear that!! Thanks for the reminder Bonnie. That's all so true.

Wishing you enough.

-- Trevilians (aka Dianne in Mass) (Trevilians@mediaone.net), October 18, 2001.

Thanks Bonnie,I've read the book but forgotten how great it is. A perfect message for a gray day in W.Wa. I printed it out to share with my family.

-- Judy Schumacher (TootlesTheBrit@aol.com), October 18, 2001.

aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. nice ;>)

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), October 18, 2001.

I collect meaningful/inspiring passages from books. this is great; thanks for sharing it! i hope our library has this book!

-- Buk Buk (bukabuk@hotmail.com), October 18, 2001.

If was not for my walks in the wild every day I would find something wrong every day to complain about. thank god for the great things in life. I love the country life and all that gos with it well almost . Indiana country Friend Jack Bunyard

-- Jack Bunyard (bunyard@cnz.com), October 18, 2001.

Great quote, Bonnie. I couldn't agree more. Sometimes people lose sight of what is really "real" in this world.

-- Lisa (tepeeclan@nidlink.com), October 18, 2001.

"Living out here in the boonies, is what keeps me from turning into a loonie!"

Lovely post, the wonders and healing effects of Mother Nature never cease to amaze me.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), October 19, 2001.

Along the same lines: "When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free" - Wendell Berry The Peace of Wild Things

I have this on my fridge to remind myself. Lee Daisy

-- lee daisy (leedaisyw@cs.com), October 19, 2001.