44 years old

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you

But make allowance for their doubting too,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,

If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

If all men count with you, but none too much,

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

--Rudyard Kipling

When i was growing up this word was considered disrespectful and we didn't use it, I raised my sons that same way. If i remember right, richard pryor shocked the world whenever he first made it popolar to use in comedy. My question is this, if this word had been left alone, never used, wouldn't it be gone by now, i mean is it now a term of disrespect or endearment?

do you believe in guardian angels and if so do you believe they ever appear to us? why?

what is your definition of spiritual?

what do you feel is the purpose of man on earth?

Has anyone read, first to the last breath? if so, how was it?

it's at www.booksaboutreallives.com and barns and noble among a few...

what are your beliefs on deja-vues and or motherly instincts?

I was quite shocked at the reaction of this "POEM" this is exactly how i felt the morning after my 19 year old son died, this is an example of a true spiritual journey beginning, i had no beliefs, can you imagine living that way all of your life? thank GODI don't have too....he answered all of my questions and allowed me to continue living. what do you think happens to people who find themselves in a situation like mine and don't have a base of faith?

EXCERPT FROM "FIRST TO THE LAST BREATH" Lisa Willhite

No one slept that night, yet everyone awoke in the morning. It was a rude awakening. Whenever

the coldness of a cloudy night makes way, after hours upon hours of darkness, for the bright

warming sunshine of a new day, you would expect the warmth to envelope you. To take you in

it's arms and caress your thoughts, providing you with that feeling of jubilation that gives us all

the spirit to continue on, yet in times like these your bones stay chilled. It is as if the sunshine is

nothing more than a picture, painted with no depth, no substance to mention. It almost seems, at

times, as though it taunts you, "sure, believe that it's a beautiful world, I won't let you down," It

says, "I am always here". The birds sing harmony, but it sounds like noise. Whenever the

squirrels chatter, it makes you feel as though you never noticed the extent of their audacity

before. Yes upon awakening, that momentary lapse in memory function that allows us all a

seconds worth of fantasy, a second of thought, that comforts us with lies, that have at some

point led us to believe it was all a bad dream, disappears into the ugly world of un-mistaken

reality. It is at this time that we curse the world and all of it's inhabitants, we curse it because we

expect it to stop spinning, we expect time to stand still, for our worlds have definitely stopped

to recognize the loss of one of it's spirits. How dare the world continue on in this time of such

great sorrow.11:17 am pdt

If God Knows our hearts why do so many people insist that he test our faith? And if he loves us more than we love our own,how can can he be responsible for our suffering?

trying to connect a wirless card to a laptop of a family member that i believe stole it from my mail and not only activated it but used it almost a year. i paid over a 1000.00 dollars in fees. I need proof of the activity from earthlink, what specific should i ask for? an isp address would that prove the use from her computer?