Many days we try hard, put in lots of effort, and give it our best just to come in third. Third is a hard pill to swallow for any of us. We want to be first. We want our name in the record books. We want to be known for something. 

I nearly walked on by, too preoccupied with my own misery to see his.

“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you’ll be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” — Arthur Gordon

Solutions will present themselves if we look for them — if we’re flexible enough to bend with the problem instead of struggle against the problem — if we learn to wiggle through life.

Whether it means anything to them now, one day, it will. One day they’ll find themselves in a situation where they’ll have to choose between sacrificing a little for future rewards or goofing off. One day it will matter.

When no one is close enough to love us or hug us or lift us or care for us — still, believe.

Hidden in all that mess was something beautiful. I almost missed it because all I could see was the mess which had wrapped itself around it; all I could see were the burdens which weighed it down.

Granted, there are days when it seems every piece of river trash gets hung up on your branch, days when you do what’s right and still get called wrong. That’s life. That’s everyone’s life.

Who could imagine just how evil evil could be. As I watched and listened, I recorded these quotes broadcast that day — to remember the courage, to remember the unity, to never forget those lost to us forever.