Holding On Together, for The Sunday Whirl

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Holding On Together
Greed, despair and tragedy need not rule our lives,
so long as that calm part of us holds on and survives.
(That presence that walks with us on those hard journeys where
evil seems to stalk us from within its fiendish lair.)
For at each of its stages, Earth has held it all:
both vibrating heart strings that heed the spirit’s call
as well as those demonic fiends that seem to be in power,
issuing their edicts from whichever tower 
they’ve chosen to reign from, be they palaces of stone
or White Houses half demolished that they claim to own.
These despots or these presidents, these potentates or kings
seem to concentrate their power in edicts and in things,
whereas those below them go on living their lives
by concentrating on the kindness that survives
and which we show each other in our living day-to-day,
hoping that the nightmare will soon fade away.

This is my very favorite quote and I have paraphrased it a hundred times. Here is the actual quote:

“Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing the things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is what happened on the banks.” ~ Will Durant

For The Sunday Whirl Wordle  the prompt words are:
greed tragedy despair presence walk calm strings earth all spirit vibrating heart
Images created with the help of AI…the best that I could do.

22 thoughts on “Holding On Together, for The Sunday Whirl”

    1. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

      There is so much wisdom in his book, but this is the quote which has gotten me through many a bad time and made me resolved that sometimes all we can do is to try to influence our immediate world as positively as possible.

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    1. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

      Derrick, another favorite quote was the final line of Candide when Voltaire gave us the advice on how to deal with the world by saying “Plant your own garden.” This seems to be advice you have taken as well and it is much the same advice that Will Durant gives. (Again, I’ve paraphrased Voltaire, I believe…but it is the gist of his message.)

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