
Recently i've come across some personally and generally inspiring/motivational writing:
The first piece being one of the short stories from David Eagelman's collection called Sum: Tales from the afterlives, a book that has some truly inventive and inciteful philosophies to indulge the mind in, well worth a read or a purchase from only three pounds :)
Subjunctive
In the afterlife you are judged not against other people, but against yourself. Specifically, you are judged against what you could have been. So the afterworld is much like the present world, but it now includes all the yous that could have been. In an elevator you might meet more successful versions of yourself, perhaps the you that chose to leave your hometown three years earlier, or the you who happened to board an airplane next to a company president who then hired you. as you meet theses yous, you experience a pride of the sort you feel for a successful cousin: although the accomplishments don't directly belong to you, it somehow feels close.
But soon you fall victim to intimidation. These yous are not really you, they are better than you. They made smarter choices, worked harder, invested the extra effort into pushing on closed doors. These doors eventually broke open for them and allowed their lives to splash out in colorful new directions. Such success cannot be explained away by a better genetic hand; instead, they played your cards better. In their parallel lives, they made better decisions, avoided moral lapses, did not give up on love so easily. They worked harder than you did to correct their mistakes and apologized more often.
Eventually you cannot stand hanging around these better yous. You discover you've never felt more competitive with anyone in your life.
You try to mingle with the lesser yous, but it doesn't assuage sting.In truth, you have little sympathy for these less significant yous and more than a little haughtiness about their indolence. "If you had quit watching TV and gotten off the couch you wouldn't be in this situation," you tell them, when you bother to interact with them at all.
But the better yous are always in your face in the afterlife. In the bookstore you'll see one of them arm in arm with the affectionate woman whom you let slip away. Another you is browsing the shelves, running his fingers over the book he actually finished writing. And look at this one jogging past outside: he's got a much better body than yours, thanks to a consistency at the gym that you never kept up.
Eventually you sink into defensive posture, seeking reasons why you would not want to be so well behaved and virtuous in any case. You grudgingly befriend some of the lesser yous and go drinking with them. Even at the bar you see the better yous, buying rounds for their friends, celebrating their latest good choice.
And thus your punishment is cleverly and automatically regulated in the afterlife: the more you fall short of your potential, the more of these annoying selves you are forced to deal with.
Copyright goes to the author. No Copyright infringement intended.
The piece is more personal and comes from my late grandmothers collection of poems.
Christopher John Michael (My Grandson)
Christopher John Michael, babe of "89"
I hope your days will always be fine
Bright eyes shining, resolute and true
Ready, willing and able
My wishes to you
Schoolboy of the nineties there's hope to your life
Exciting roads to follow dreams to pursue
May it be inspiring, may it all come true
But be wary don't let danger threaten
To thine ownself be true
Which job will you hold, which road will you choose?
Steeplejack, Writer, Lawyer who knows?
But whatever you do, whatever the score
Be honest, have courage
You cannot do more
The twenty - first century will come and go
You will be here to say "Hello, greetings and Best Wishes"
We all want to say and with good luck we will keep wars at bay
With all our resources, a better world to live in
A vision to fulfil.
Margaret Tsoukatos
I was ever so proud when I found this poem I hope some day I can write a suitable reply to the amazing woman that wrote this. Gran you give me hope,inspiration and a power - rest in piece.