Speech by Pulitzer Prize winner, Anna Quindlen

My friend forwarded this to me and I think it's one hell of a speech!! :-)

This was a speech made by Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Anna Quindlen at the graduation ceremony of an American university where she was awarded an Honorary PhD.
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I'm a novelist. My work is human nature. Real life is all I know. Don't ever confuse the two, your life and your work. You will walk out of here this afternoon with only one thing that no one else has. There will be hundreds of people out there with your same degree: there will be thousands of people doing what you want to do for a living. But you will be the only person alive who has sole custody of your life. Your particular life.

Your entire life. Not just your life at a desk, or your life on a bus, or in a car, or at the computer. Not just the life of your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank accounts but also your soul.

People don't talk about the soul very much anymore. It's so much easier to write a resume than to craft a spirit. But a resume is cold comfort on a winter's night, or when you're sad, or broke, or lonely, or when you've received your test results and they're not so good.

Here is my resume: I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my work stand in the way of being a good parent. I no longer consider myself the centre of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows and mean what they say.

I am a good friend to my friends and they to me. Without them, there would be nothing to say to you today, because I
would be a cardboard cut out. But I call them on the phone, and I meet them for lunch. Enjoyed their tale & yarn. I feel sad if they are sad and share their joy when they are happy. I would be rotten, at best mediocre, at my job if those other things were not true.

You cannot be really first rate at your work, if your work is all you are. So here's what I wanted to tell you today: Get a life. A real life, not a manic pursuit of the next promotion, the bigger pay cheque, the larger house. Do you think you'd care so very much about those things if you blew an aneurysm one afternoon, or found something wrong with you or your loved one?

Get a life in which you notice the smell of salt water pushing itself on a breeze at the seaside, a life in which you stop and watch how a red-tailed hawk circles over the water, or the way a baby scowls with concentration when she tries to pick up a sweet with her thumb and first finger.

Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure, it is work. Pick up the phone. Send an email. Write a letter. Get a life in which you are generous. And realize that life is the best thing ever, and that you have no business taking it for granted. Care so deeply about its goodness that you want to spread it around. Take money you would have spent on beer and give it to charity, little charity make you happy, big one make you proud that you are able to do it. Work in a soup kitchen. Be a big brother or sister. All of you want to do well. But if you do not do good too, then doing well will never be enough.

It is so easy to waste our lives, our days, our hours, and our minutes. It is so easy to take for granted the color of our kids' eyes, the way the melody in a symphony rises and falls and disappears and rises again. It is so easy to exist instead of to live.

I learned to live many years ago. I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I learned that it is not a dress rehearsal, and that today is the only guarantee you get. I learned to look at all the good in the world and try to give some of it back because I believed in it, completely and utterly. And I tried to do that, in part, by telling others what I had learned.

By telling them this: I hope you find the time to enjoy your family , friends, & laugh & love more, you be surprise how happy it will make you feel. Don't live with regret or you be sorry for the rest of your life.

Consider the lilies of the field. Look at the fuzz on a baby's ear. Read in the back yard with the sun on your
face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a gift, because if you do, you will live it with joy and passion as it ought to be lived.

Still bitter

I am still bitter after Thursday's ordeal. To be ambushed and blamed for something completely not my fault is just ridiculous!! Yes, I do admit that I made one small mistake but to take the brunt of everything is just preposterous!! I refused to let that day affect me but unfortunately, I've failed to do so. So much so that I became even sicker on Friday (had to take MC) and my whole weekend was just spoilt!!

I dread Monday as I always do but thank God I'll be left alone, at least to cool down. I've made up my mind that I'll just do whatever it is that is asked of me (without complaning) till I leave. I am definitely leaving but am just waiting for the right place and time to do so. I can't wait to see their faces when I announce this.

My sister did mention that I can't run away everytime I face trouble or when something like this happens again. And I agree. But this time, it just went too far. Besides, as one of my friends said, "No one stays with their first job forever!" I totally agree!! I've been here long enough. Anymore longer and I'll lose my sanity!

I'm praying, hoping, asking, believing and receiving for a new better job!!

ARGH!!!

I don't understand why some people love to be bossy. Just becoz they are the big guns running the show, they treat the little ones as though they are slaves with no feelings. Even if the little ones achieve something, there's no praise or appreciation. It's all done in the name of the "organisation". Does expecting an occasional praise or "good job" make me a non-team player? I think not!! Unfortunately, when the big guns "speak", the small ones become intimidated and there goes the chance to answer back or explain yourself.

There are completely no right work ethics and the little ones are left feeling unappreciated and frustrated. It's no wonder many little ones have left. I'm not surprised. I'll be gone one day too. I'm just waiting for that day!!!

Of runny noses and irritated throats

Runny nose. Irritated throat. Cough. Phlegm. Over-heated body.

Yes, I am sick. I have been sick for the past 5 days. The nose is no longer "running" but the phlegm is insistent on irritating the throat, hence the cough.

The over-heated body? Not really fever but just feels hot! Me!! The person who hates the cold and yet, now, complains about feeling hot.

Oh boy! Being sick is no fun. It doesn't even get me out of work as to do that, I must produce an MC, which means going all the way to the doctor!! Personally, my body is just tired and I need to rest but I can't very well go to the doctor and ask for an MC coz I want to sleep, can I?

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