March
10
10
My Favorite Things On My Desk – From Patty O'Brien!
My favorite thing on my desk is actually from my desk at home. It's a birthday card that I bought at least twenty years ago and has sometimes been used as a coaster. Still, the poem so resonates with me that I have never used the card for its intended purpose and I sometimes carry it with me as a reminder. Lately, it's been with me at the Franconia office where my very favorite "things" are all those who work with me. A bunch of smarty pants, they are, every single last one of them! So the conversations are always that much more stimulating, the laughter that much more heartier, and the camaraderie that much more deep.
I'd like to share this poem with you and there really isn't anything more that I could add.
To live content with small means,
to seek elegance rather than luxury,
and refinement rather than fashion;
to be worthy, not respectable,
and wealthy, not rich; to study hard,
think quietly, talk gently, act frankly;
to listen to stars and birds,
to babes and sages, with open heart;
to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely;
await occasion, hurry never.
In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden,
and unconscious, grow up through the common,
This should be one's symphony.
I'd like to share this poem with you and there really isn't anything more that I could add.
To live content with small means,
to seek elegance rather than luxury,
and refinement rather than fashion;
to be worthy, not respectable,
and wealthy, not rich; to study hard,
think quietly, talk gently, act frankly;
to listen to stars and birds,
to babes and sages, with open heart;
to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely;
await occasion, hurry never.
In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden,
and unconscious, grow up through the common,
This should be one's symphony.
—William Henry Channing
To learn more about Patty, click here.