Dawn’S Splintered Light

By John Gordon

This is a meditative collection of thoughts, quotes, musings, devotionals, opinions, editorials, ticklers, and wincers.

My inspiration is a playful, and devoted yellow lab named Gus.

My canvas is the pre-dawn light which unfolds before me each new day.

My gratitude is unbounded.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 29, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477113813

John Gordon

John Gordon has written and illustrated many children's books as well as worked extensively in most areas of illustration. When he's not writing or illustrating, he gives talks in schools and libraries and plays squash.

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Dawn’s

Splintered

Light

John Gordon

Copyright © 2012 by John Gordon.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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This collection of thoughts, quotes, and musings is dedicated to my best friend, Gus.

He is my ninety pound alarm clock. He wakes me each day with his joyful disposition and drags my tired bones into the world’s perfect morning. Rain, cold, heat, snow, clouds, wind, darkness, overcast, or sunlight are all ideal conditions for Gus. He is so happy to be alive and out in the new day. He inspires me and makes me think my crazy thoughts as we walk together into each dawn’s splintered light.

THOUGHTS

I told you so is never helpful, positive, or productive.

I cannot change the wind, but I can adjust my sail.

There is a graceful way of being right, and many disgraceful ways to be wrong.

Pluto will always be a planet. His appeal as a diminutive outcast far surpasses the constraint of scientific measurement.

Ignore the whining capitulations of those who have settled for a compromised life, and wish for you to do the same.

American revolutionaries believed strongly in God. French anarchists put their faith in Godwin.

Zippers on pockets should zip down to close.

The leading principle of American republicanism is that no man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent.—Abraham Lincoln

The real price of a thing is a reflection of the work and effort needed to acquire it.

Pause and quiet are prerequisites for the enjoyment of spiritual enlightenment.

The paradoxical claims that one cannot stop progress and that science never stops are conflicting rather than reinforcing ideas.

The last official act of a dying government is to loot its own treasury.

Do not look back with regret. A life constructed on shame and guilt is doomed to fail. Indignity and remorse are only good for wallowing, never for building.

The mistake made yesterday is good experience for avoiding the one you might make today.

There will be no peace in the world until every man is free, because to every man he is the world.

Slavery and tyranny have been the rule since the beginning of time; liberty is the welcome exception.

Babies are not responsible for the circumstances that brought them into this world.

Smart people learn from their mistakes. Wise people learn from the mistakes of others. I’m getting tired of being so damn smart.

There is a purpose in life beyond the pursuit of my own pleasure.

Aggressively defending yourself against the lies, gossip, and distortions of deceit has a funny way of backfiring. Better to ignore the slander and change the tone by accentuating optimism and positive truths as the alternate and genuine reality.

Courage is the benefit of encouragement.

Time is a gift, no longer the threat that it used to be.

It is time for this country to move toward a restoration of the level of morality that emphasizes personal accountability and responsibility over the perceived privilege of entitlement.

Herpes is forever; AIDS, not so long.

The big lie of socialism is in the false comfort perceived by the weak hearted who relish security over liberty.

People watch the way we act more than they listen to the words we say.

As to sustenance, be discriminating. As to danger, stay alert.

The most valuable life is one of honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love.

The soul’s greatest danger is self-congratulation.

I think, therefore I am (I think), but when I feel, I know who I am.

Crazy is in the eye of the beholder, yet feeling crazy is a pretty good indication of sanity.

Unrealistic expectation results in either trying too hard or not trying at all—two sides of the coin of perfection.

My five senses are the means by which I tap into and communicate with the physical world, but they have nothing to do with the way I hear the music of the spirit.

History is lived in the reality of today, and written in the opinion of tomorrow.

We defend comfort and the status quo more fiercely than we defend freedom and liberty, especially when the comfort is our own and the liberty is intended for someone else.

The only drawback to proactive thought is that we always plan for the result we’d like to see rather than the one that is most likely to happen. It is still, however, better than reactive thought.

There has certainly been a lot of talk lately (Summer 2011) about the terrible plight of the poor in America, and the callous disregard toward them on the part of fiscal conservatives anxious to reign in the runaway entitlement programs of the current government. Perhaps some facts are in order: The Census Bureau reported last fall that 43 million Americans, one in seven of us, were poor. What is poor in America? Government data illustrates that half of these families have a personal computer in the home, one in seven has two or more computers, and 43% have internet access. These are not dilapidated mobile homes, trailers, or hovels. They are houses and apartments, for the most part, in good repair. They are not overcrowded, and in fact, have more living space than the average non-poor European. Only one in seventy poor persons is actually homeless. They typically have at least two color TVs (one-third have wide-screen plasmas), a VCR and a DVD player, and those with children almost all have Xbox or PlayStation. Three out of four of America’s poor families have air conditioning, two-thirds have cable or satellite, and 92 percent have microwaves. Three-fourths have a car or truck, and 31% have two or more vehicles. The claim that millions of children go to bed hungry is patently false. The USDA reports that less than one million kids face low food security. This translates that 1.3 percent of all children experience disrupted eating patterns. Ninety-nine percent of children did not skip a single meal in 2009 because of lack of financial resources. Eating too much, not too little, is the major dietary problem of adults considered poor. Most are overweight. America’s poor do not live in the lap of luxury, but a little perspective is in order.

One definition of insanity is repeated attendance at a twelve step program without working the program.

The world is, and has been, filled with leaders. Unfortunately many of them lead multitudes down the wrong path.

Discretion and patience cool the embers of anger and resentment.

It is no coincidence and little consolation that those who would inflict upon the world their sanctimonious, judgmental opinion of the carbon footprint of others seem oblivious to the obnoxious subjection upon the innocent of their own smug verbal footprint.

There is no punishment more terrible than the self-inflicted wound of remorse. The only antidote to the regret of yesterday is to life each day forward in harmony with the Spirit that inspires you.

Smug, sanctimonious, and self-righteous is a sad mask for the desperately unhappy.

Every season of grief and suffering is another experience of value toward hard-earned wisdom.

I am an heir of Burke. The Rousseau ideology that government knows what is best for me holds no appeal.

Delay and procrastination are decisions regardless of how reluctantly made.

The radical egotism that judges every question by the light of each individual’s unaided reason is capitulation to the secret vanity of the heart.

Atheism refuses to acknowledge any limit to a man’s moral right to pursue his own ends.

The overabundance of intrusive regulation passed down by a cowardly Congress is turning this republic into one of appropriately defiant lawbreakers.

Remorse is terrible mental punishment.

Idealistic goals are cherished not because of their lack of attainability, but because of it.

Obscurity is not a requirement of profundity.

All experience has value.

Scars are tattoos with a better story.

Accept abuse as well as you accept praise.

Let me be on my guard when the world puts on a loving face, for it will, if possible, betray me with a kiss.

I am dually enslaved by, and freed by my dreams. They capture me, hold me hostage, school me, and lecture me while releasing the joy and creativity within me. Dreams help me solve problems, find spontaneous direction, and discover new solutions. Without them I struggle to move forward.

Morality is not simply a personal reference.

Irrational, incompetent, blind mule political correctness of the Transportation Security Association is a pathetic wink and nod to the Taliban of left-wing indulgence and idiotic tolerance.

Guns don’t kill people. Highly trained American marines and soldiers with guns kill people; bad people.

Much of the leftist’s identity and self-esteem derives from his righteous conviction that he is morally, socially, and intellectually superior to the Middle American denizens of the lower order.

Truth telling is hate to those who hate truth.

The heart withers that does not answer another