No One But Us

[John Dicus]

Dear All,

This is from Annie Dillard's "Holy The Firm."  These words always help me
feel whole.

First, she reminds us of our responsibility to not fall back on excuses.
Then she reminds us that no matter how bad things seem, the world isn't
going backwards.

...  she begins ....

There is no one but us.

There is no one to send,
nor a clean hand nor a
pure heart on the face
of the earth,
nor in the earth,
but only us,

A generation comforting
ourselves with the notion
that we have come at an
awkward time,
that our innocent
fathers are all dead
 -- as if innocence
had ever been
 -- and our children
busy and troubled,

And we ourselves unfit,
not yet ready,
having each of us chosen wrongly,
made a false start, failed,

Yielded to impulse and the
tangled comfort of pleasures,
and grown exhausted,
unable to seek the thread,
weak and involved.

But there is no one but us.
There never has been.

... and then ...

There have been generations
which remembered, and
generations which forgot;

there has never been a
generation of whole men
and women who lived well
even for one day.

Yet some have imagined well,
with honesty and art,
the detail of such a life,
and have described it
with such grace,
that we mistake vision for history,
dream for description,

and fancy that life has devolved.

.......................

Hope and Peace,

John

--
John Dicus  |  CornerStone Consulting Associates
- Leadership - Systems Thinking - Teamwork - Open Space - Electric Maze -
2761 Stiegler Road, Valley City, OH 44280
800-773-8017  |  330-725-2728 (2729 fax)
mailto:jdicus at ourfuture.com  |  http://www.ourfuture.com

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