pafret Loc: Northeast

"The Undiscovered Country," Shakespeare's "Hamlet Soliloquy"
https://youtu.be/muLAzfQDS3M
Adrian Lester speaks Hamlet’s soliloquy from act III, scene 1,
in which the prince reflects on mortality and considers taking his own life.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muLAzfQDS3M

“Hamlet: To be, or not to be: that is the question.
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them. To die; to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to. ’Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die; to sleep;—
To sleep? Perchance to dream! Ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffl’d off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of dispriz’d love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.”

- William Shakespeare (1564–1616),
"The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark"
(respect=realization; quietus= final settlement/release from life;
contumely= disrespect/abuse; bodkin=dagger;
fardels= heavy burdens; bourn= countryside; conscience= awareness)

"A Prayer for the World"
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_oUc6WpOAwto/TI6KFmzdoWI/AAAAAAAAasE/mZMJOYgIaHY/s1600/world.jpg
"A Prayer for the World"

"Let the rain come and wash away the ancient grudges,
the bitter hatreds held and nurtured over generations.
Let the rain wash away the memory of the hurt, the neglect.
Then let the sun come out and fill the sky with rainbows.
Let the warmth of the sun heal us wherever we are broken.
Let it burn away the fog so that we can see each other clearly,
So that we can see beyond labels, beyond accents, gender or skin color.
Let the warmth and brightness of the sun melt our selfishness,
So that we can share the joys and feel the sorrow of our neighbors.
And let the light of the sun be so strong that we will see all
people as our neighbors.
Let the earth, nourished by rain, bring forth flowers to
surround us with beauty.
And let the mountains teach our hearts to reach upward to heaven."

- Rabbi Harold S. Kushner

Peewee Loc: San Antonio, TX

Loved them both, thanks for sharing.