From a very special little blog I bring you this...

I found these two little bits of goodness here.I thought i'd share...

Otherwise

"I got out of bed
on two strong legs.
It might have been
otherwise. I ate
cereal, sweet
milk, ripe, flawless
peach. It might
have been otherwise.
I took the dog uphill
to the birch wood.
All morning I did
the work I love.

At noon I lay down
with my mate. It might
have been otherwise.
We ate dinner together
at a table with silver
candlesticks. It might
have been otherwise.
I slept in a bed
in a room with paintings
on the walls, and
planned another day
just like this day.
But one day, I know,
it will be otherwise."

Jane Kenyon

" The egoism from which I should like to protect you is not the constant tendency to be continually and exclusively absorbed in our own interests and to sacrifice to them the interests, rights and happiness of others. This egoism is incompatible with any form of virtue, and even with any honest feeling; it would be too much to bear if I felt it necessary to protect you from such a feeling.
I am discussing the egoism which, in everyday life, makes us see everything in terms of our own health, our convenience, our tastes and our well-being; an egoism which keeps us in some sense in the presence of ourselves, which feeds on the small sacrifices it imposes on others without feeling, and almost without knowing, their injustice; an egoism, which finds whatever suits it natural and just, and whatever harms it unjust and bizarre, and which complains loudly about caprice and tyranny if someone else, while humoring it, thinks also of himself.
This failing diminishes benevolence and harms and cools friendship. We become dissatisfied with others, because their self- denial can never be sufficient. We become dissatisfied with ourselves, because our vague, aimless mood develops into a constant, painful feeling which we no longer have the strength to escape.
If you want to avoid this misfortune, ensure that the feelings of equality and justice become second nature to you. Expect and demand from others only a little less than you would do for them. If you make sacrifices for them, appreciate them for what they really cost you and not according to the fact that they are sacrifices. Seek compensation for them in your reason, which will assure you that they would be reciprocated, and in your heart, which will tell you that they do not need to be. You will find that life in society is more pleasant and, dare I say, more convenient, if you live for others. Only then do you truly live for yourself. "
1794, Marquis de Condorcet