On this morning’s “This I believe” segment of Morning Edition on NPR, they had an essay by 13 year old Ying Ying Yu titled “A Duty to Family, Heritage and Country.

To be honest … I feel very sorry for Ying Ying Yu … she is far to young to be as jaded as she sounds.

From what I read, she considers it her Duty to be a lawyer … while I believe that it’s a fine career to pursue … she should only pursue it if she really wants to be a lawyer. “Duty” is something you MUST do. But a course of study, and career, is something that you should WANT to do.

I think the statement that made me the most sad about Ying Ying Yu’s life is this …

I don’t want any more dreams — dreams are illusions.

Ying Ying … everyone should have dreams … dreams give you something to strive for … even if you know you can’t attain it.

I dream of being a respected nature photographer … but I doubt I ever will be one. That doesn’t stop me from taking lots of nature photos and making them best pictures I can … and learning from every one of them.

[tags]npr, This I believe, dreams, duty[/tags]

Someone on one of the lists I run posted this today … I thought it was worth publishing:

An elder Cherokee chief took his grandchildren into the forest and sat
them down and said to them, “A fight is going on inside me. This is a
terrible fight and it is a fight between two wolves. One wolf is the
wolf of fear, anger, arrogance and greed. The other wolf is the wolf of
courage, kindness, humility and love.” The children were very quiet and
listening to their grandfather with both their ears. He then said to
them, “This same fight between the two wolves that is going on inside of
me is going on inside of you, and inside every person.” They thought
about it for a minute and then one child asked the chief, “Grandfather,
which wolf will win the fight?” He said quietly, “The one you feed.”

[tags]Wisdom[/tags]