Lest we forget.

Today is 11/11/11, and we are called to remember those who fell in war so that we could live in freedom. This is not supporting war, this supporting the people who accept that sometimes, it is a neccessary evil, and are prepared to sacrifice everything for the rest of us. A few years ago, I went to the Western Front, and I can honestly say I dont that I've ever been so moved. This is something I truly, passionately believe in. The scale and depth of the horror are ineffable, as least for me. So instead, I give you a selection of my favourite poetry from those who lived it, and some photographs. Please, take a minute just to be calm, and remember.

Unimaginable scale

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime...
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

                                       - Wilfred Owen

German graved, marker with iron crosses.

If I should die, think only this of me:

That there's some corner of a foreign field

That is for ever England. There shall be

In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;

A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,

Gave, once her flowers to love, her ways to roam,

A body of England's, breathing English air,

Washed by the rivers, blessed by the suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,

A pulse in the eternal mind, no less

Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;

Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;

And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,

In hearts a peace, under an English heaven.

Rupert Brooke

Vimy Ridge, a memorial to the Canadian.

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal,
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation,
And a glory that shines upon her tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables at home;
They have no lot in our labour of the daytime;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known,
As the stars are known to the night.

As the stars will be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

- Laurence Binyon

Strength

Remember those posts I did on fitness for life? Blast from the past right? Anyway, now seemed like a pretty good time to write another one.

♥ Stamina ( <<click there to see the first one!)
♥ Speed  ( <<ooh, and the second!)
♥ Strength
♥ Skill
♥ Suppleness

At the moment, for reasons I don't particularly want to broadcast to the word wide web, my strength is seriously being tested. Its shit. But let us not wallow in self pity, lets try and learn something from this. I'm typing this through gritted teeth as it were, because quite frankly, I don't feel like being calm and introspective, I feel like kicking something. But I did that yesterday and bruised my foot - lesson 1, temper tantrums will not help. Grow the hell up.

So what do those with a bit more wisdom than me say?

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.

- Mahatma Gandhi

What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.

 - Freidrich Nietzsche

We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot.  
- Eleanor Roosevelt

People do not lack strength; they lack will.
 - Victor Hugo

As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed.
- Vincent Van Gogh

Sounds pretty doesn't it? We all know its a lot easier said than done. I had a conversation the other day  with someone I have a lot of respect for, about the fact that life is sometimes an utter bitch, and how we deal with that. This person was telling me that they thought one of my greatest weaknesses was being too open - and its true, I am very open, I have a tendency to overshare and over react. And I don't like those things about myself. But - the more I think about it, the more I'd rather be that way inclined than the other. Or would I? I truly don't know, this is more musing than advice, because I don't have the answer. Someone once said - again, I don't know who (apologies for todays' total lack of knowledge) that the stronger person is the person who is brave enough to make themself vulnerable, or words to that effect anyway. Is that true? My natural reaction is to talk to people, though by no means everyone and anyone. Oftentimes I stumble across a person, and quite arbitrarily trust them, and end up spilling out things which might be best left in the recesses of silence. Sometimes you just feel like you know a person. Part of the problem perhaps, as I postulated to my friend - is the fact that this has never come back to bite me so to speak, I've never been let down by those people I've trusted. But then, why is it a problem? Perhaps I'm just lucky. Perhaps my friend has just been unlucky. Perhaps I should quit whilst I'm ahead. But - as I said - I can't help but think it must be very lonely not to tell anyone about the things that are hard, and making yourself lonely can't be strength. Is it not lonely in there?

I don't know which standpoint is that of the stronger person, perhaps it doesn't matter. Like I said, this is very much something I'm working through and making my mind up about at the moment. Infact, based upon my experience, and my conversation, and what I can glean from others, there isn't a lot of practical advice to be offered when it comes to strength. Other than just get on with it.

If you have to do it, well then, do it. Maybe it will almost kill you - but that's very unlikely, and if you survive it, then it doesn't really matter. Keep going. It cannot be this way forever, nothing stays the same. You can - and will - do it. And actually, the more I think about it - do share the weight. In holding anything up, its easier if there are two of you. Surely then its easier to share your weight? The fear I suppose, is that the person you're sharing with - your co-Atlas, will disappear, and you will be crushed by that globe unexpected. So stop being so afraid; stop being weak and take the risk. And if you make a bad call and they disappear? Well then you're not holding up anymore weight than you were before. Anymore weight than you would have done if they'd never shared your load.

My tips? You've heard them all before, so I only have one;

♥ You're already strong. Just don't be afraid to let yourself be it.

Source

Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.

I would do terrible things for those earrings.

One of my all time favourite films is Factory Girl, about Andy Warhol's muse, Edie Sedgewick. Cue some gorgeous pictures of her, and some quotes from him.

"I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want to own."

"Fantasy love is much better than reality love. Never doing it is very exciting. The most exciting attractions are between two opposites that never meet."

"It would be very glamorous to be reincarnated as a great big ring on Liz Taylor's finger."

"People need to be made more aware of the need to work at learning how to live because life is so quick and sometimes it goes away too quickly."

"They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself."

"Art is what you can get away with."

"It’s not what you are that counts, it’s what they think you are."

"Sometimes people let the same problem make them miserable for years when they could just say, "So what." That's one of my favorite things to say. "So what."

"People sometimes say that the way things happen in the movies is unreal, but actually, it's the way things happen to you in life that's unreal. The movies make emotions look strong and real, whereas when things really do happen to you, it's like you're watching television -- you don't feel anything."

So much love for this disastrous pair, and for her style! I may well have to write about it sometime...

 

Speed

Welcome to the second part of my mini series on fitness, in which I attempt to apply the principles of physical fitness to life!

♥ Stamina ( <<click there to see the first one!)
♥ Speed
♥ Strength
♥ Skill
♥ Suppleness

Speed is an interesting one, certainly my first thought when it comes to speed is that the faster you can go, the better. I cast my mind back to the last time I actually sprinted (400m relay, year nine I think), and much as I was not one of the sporty kids, I didn't mind it so much, because well - its over so quickly! Regardless of how much your lungs were caving in, the muscles in your legs screaming and the taste of blood on your lips, it was all over in under 30 seconds. The real bitch was cross country.

I was in that poor group at the back, the one the PE teachers used to call 'the pie munchers'. Seriously. The trick with cross country was to pace yourself, and well - due to utter lack of fitness, I didn't have a lot of scope to pace myself with! This - and you have no idea how truly I wish there was an alternative - can only be improved by further excercise. The cruelty of it!

So lets apply this to life, its fairly obvious. There are two kinds of speed we need to apply - urgency, giving something our full effort and attention. Then there's the long haul, knowing yourself, making cautious judgements, pacing yourself - knowing when to regroup, and knowing when to push yourself. We in the student world are approaching one of these times - exam revision. Its many a student made the disastrous call of working tirelessly for their first exam, only to forget all about the one the day after. You've got to play the long game, look at the big picture.  Equally, its no good thinking about other exams when you're sat in that hall. You need to know when to pace, and when to push.

Heres some quotes on running and pace...

"I always loved running...it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs."
-Jesse Owens

"The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare."
-Juma Ikangaa, 1989 NYC Marathon winner

"If you become restless, speed up. If you become winded, slow down. You climb the mountain in an equilibrium between restlessness and exhaustion." - Robert Pirsig

"Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day."

 – Winnie The Pooh (!)

If you go too slowly, you aren't going to make any progress. If you go too fast, you're going to exhaust yourself. Get to know yourself - get to know the things that you can take head on, and the things you need to give yourself time for. I know some people who get over a break up in a week, others take months. And either is ok, because people who need more time for some things are quicker at others. And, like Winnie the Pooh said - there is no hurry. What are we actually racing towards anyway? Maybe its a job, a qualification, a relationship, some particular goal, I don't know. Setting a good pace is not always setting the fastest possible pace. Heres some thoughts I had on pacing...

♥ Spend time getting to know your areas of fitness. Look back over things, and ask how difficult did you find it? Is there some way you could make it easier for yourself in the future?

♥ Practice - like with running, some things can only be improved with practice. When the time comes for you to push yourself, it will be a million times easier if you've prepared.

♥ Don't be afraid to take time to rest and recooperate- this is just as crucial to reaching your goal as the actual doing, because the quality of your output will not be as good if you are not at your best.

♥ Know that no matter how well you pace yourself, there are going to be times when your lungs are about to cave in, the muscles in your legs are screaming, and the taste of blood is on your lips. Accept it. Be ready for it. When the time comes, deal with it.

♥ Be as fit as you can in other ways - the better your stamina, skill and so on, the easier it will be to run the race. Look after yourself!

 

Stamina.

Whilst on my pre Christmas health kick (I went for a run the other day y'all!), I came across something I'm sure most sports persons are well familiar with; the five componants of fitness:

♥ Stamina
♥ Speed
♥ Strength
♥ Skill
♥ Suppleness

As I dragged myself around the perimetre of Sefton Park, I got to thinking about these. They seem to me to be not only key to fitness, but pretty key to life, so I'm going to have a muse about them all in a little mini series - Fitness For Life or something, we'll see if I can come up with a witty title.

So stamina. Perseverance, mind over matter, keeping going. We all know its a lot easier said than done, but I am constantly inspired by the people around me who refuse to give up. I know people who are struggling with their health, their relationships, their family, their courses - I know a couple of people who are struggling with all of them! But they havent given up, and in the words of Cheryl, if its worth having, its worth fighting for. Que famous thoughts -

When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Fall seven times, stand up eight.
- Japanese Proverb

If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking.
- Buddhist Saying

If you are going through hell, keep going.
- Winston Churchill

I know how lucky I am, in so many ways, but I can empathise with the people out there who feel like they're getting to the end of their line. When you reach that point where you think, well, at least it can't get any worse, and then life just craps all over you again! But you know what, you keep going. I am constantly amazed at the strength people have, when it comes to the moment, the sink or swim - well, you swim. You have to. There are always going to be times in life when everything seems dark and hopeless, but - I've said this before - this too shall pass. From the limited life experience I have, and the extensive life experience I've gleaned from others, here are my top tips for keeping up your stamina...

♥ Lean on the people around you. There will always, always be someone willing to share the load, sometimes you just need to reach out to them.

♥ Focus on the end, the light at the end of the tunnel, the reason you're doing this in the first place.

♥ Keep it in persepective - there is always someone worse off than you.

♥ Play to your strengths; pick your battles.

♥ Stop putting it off. If it needs doing, it needs doing, and you'll feel a million times better once its done.

♥ On the other hand, give yourself a break from time to time, emotionally and physically. You only work at your best when you're properly rested.

♥ Practice perseverance, its a skill like any other. Even if something doesn't especially matter, if you follow it through, you'll be in better stead when something that does matter comes along.

♥ Never, never, never give up!

If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life.

In which we quote Mr Oscar Wilde, who has been much on our minds of late.

"A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing."

"A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone's feelings unintentionally."

"A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction."

"A poet can survive everything but a misprint"

"A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it."

"All that I desire to point out is the general principle that life imitates art far more than art imitates life"

"An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all."

"Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative."

"Do you really think it is weakness that yields to temptation? I tell you that there are terrible temptations which it requires strength, strength and courage to yield to."

"I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying."

"I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being."

"I can stand brute force, but brute reason is quite unbearable. There is something unfair about its use. It is hitting below the intellect."

"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."

"The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast." -Oscar, you knew!

"This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last"

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."

Oscar and Alfred x

 

Photo Friday 15/10/10

“I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.” - Galileo Galilei

(Blatantly stolen from Josh, but its beautiful so I dont care)

Pale Blue Dot, with foresight (or - everyone alive should see this)

A few days ago I quoted the wife of Carl Sagan on his death.

Well, here is the work of Carl Sagan. Everyone alive should watch this video.

It is amazing. I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to science, but I was actually inspired to buy the book 'Cosmos', just out of fascination and admiration for its author. He gives the science of the world around us a magical quality which I think we've really lost; the wonder of discovering the world around us. Children have it - joy at seeing a new type of animal or finding out how something works, but somewhere along the way we lost that wonder. I want it back.

"For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love."

"Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere."

"Personally, I would be delighted if there were a life after death, especially if it permitted me to continue to learn about this world and others, if it gave me a chance to discover how history turns out."

"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."

"The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition."

"When you make the finding yourself - even if you're the last person on Earth to see the light - you'll never forget it."

"Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people."

Awesome, in every sense of the word!

Pale Blue Dot, with hindsight

"When my husband died, because he was so famous & known for not being a believer, many people would come up to me — it still sometimes happens — & ask me if Carl changed at the end & converted to a belief in an afterlife. They also frequently ask me if I think I will see him again.

Carl faced his death with unflagging courage & never sought refuge in illusions. The tragedy was that we knew we would never see each other again. I don’t ever expect to be reunited with Carl. But, the great thing is that when we were together, for nearly twenty years, we lived with a vivid appreciation of how brief & precious life is. We never trivialized the meaning of death by pretending it was anything other than a final parting. Every single moment that we were alive & we were together was miraculous — not miraculous in the sense of inexplicable or supernatural. We knew we were beneficiaries of chance… That pure chance could be so generous & so kind… That we could find each other, as Carl wrote so beautifully in Cosmos, you know, in the vastness of space & the immensity of time… That we could be together for twenty years. That is something which sustains me & it’s much more meaningful…

The way he treated me & the way I treated him, the way we took care of each other & our family, while he lived. That is so much more important than the idea I will see him someday. I don’t think I’ll ever see Carl again. But I saw him. We saw each other. We found each other in the cosmos, and that was wonderful."

Ann Druyan, talking about her husband, Carl Sagan. I must write about Carl Sagan, because he is amazing.

I dont do drugs. I am drugs.

Freakin LOVE Salvadore Dali. One of my all time favourite artists, characters and moustaches!

"Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it."

"In order to acquire a growing and lasting respect in society, it is a good thing, if you possess great talent, to give, early in your youth, a very hard kick to the right shin of the society that you love. After that, be a snob."

"Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings."

"Mistakes are almost always of a sacred nature. Never try to correct them. On the contrary: rationalize them, understand them thoroughly. After that, it will be possible for you to sublimate them. "

"Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision."

"The difference between false memories and true ones is the same as for jewels: it is always the false ones that look the most real, the most brilliant."

"The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad. The madman thinks he is sane; I know I am mad"

"Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing."

Extra love goes to the above photo, which was actually taken by photographer Philippe Halsman. Apparently it took them 28 attempts, six hours, his wife Yvonne and several assistants. One count one, Yvonne holds up the chair. Count two, the assistant get ready with the water and the cats. Count three, assistants throw cats from the right and buckets of water from the left (poor kittehs!) On four, Dali leaps into the air and a millisecond later, Halsman clicks his camera. Twenty eight times. I think this is amazing, what can be achieved pre photoshop! (And RSPCA, clearly...) The photo is 'retouched' - that means covering up the piano strings which suspended the easel and the painting, and getting rid of the stool support, Yvonne's hands and a bit of an assistant on the left. This to me is very impressive work pre computer editing!

Dali and Halsman collaborated a few times, inspired by Harold Edgerton's photo 'Milk Coronet' to explore suspension. First of all they wanted to blow up a chicken (for real), and use milk, but US animal protection laws prevented that, and they thought people might not like milk wasteage. So instead, they used unharmed (ish) cats and water. Awesome.

We're all mad here.

Ever since I played Alice in the super cool, modern kids play 'Alice Liddle @ Wonderland.com' when I was 8, I have loved Alice and Wonderland. Its a beautiful book, both in imagery and absurdity - an absurdity which presents us with some bizzare truths. Its a book we can all relate to, about suddenly looking round and realising that the world around us is crazy. Its a book about growing up, and learning to stand up for yourself. It a book about accepting people as they are, and finding your path in life.

I did a painting. Its supposed to be me as Alice, and my cat Buster (KITTEH!) as the Cheshire Cat, obvs.

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to." said the cat.
"I dont much care where-" said Alice.
"Then it doesn't much matter which way you go." said the cat.

This is one of my all time favourite quotes ever. It makes me feel better when I'm lost and I dont know where to go. Awww.

"What is the use of a book, without pictures or conversations?"

"I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is 'Who in the world am I?' Ah, that's the great puzzle!"

"I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, Sir, because I'm not myself you see."

"If everybody minded their own business, the world would go around a great deal faster than it does."

"Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop."

"But then, shall I never get any older than I am now? That'll be a comfort, one way -- never to be an old woman -- but then -- always to have lessons to learn!"

"It would be so nice if something made sense for a change."

"Be what you would seem to be -- or, if you'd like it put more simply -- Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise."

Chaos is a friend of mine.

Thats a Bob Dylan quote. Today, I am going to quote Bob Dylan. I am a total quote binger, its my dirty little secret. I spend hours persusing quotes from various inspirational people and absorbing the sentiments. Its not an especially useful habit, but it makes me happy.

"Don't matter how much money you got, there's only two kinds of people: there's saved people and there's lost people."

"All this talk about equality. The only thing people really have in common is that they are all going to die."

"People seldom do what they believe in. They do what is convenient, then repent."

"Don't criticize what you can't understand."

"The future for me is already a thing of the past -

You were my first love and you will be my last"

"behind every beautiful thing, there's some kind of pain."

"If ever asked to look at yourself, don't."

"It's a wicked life, but what the hell, the stars ain't falling down."