MUSINGS OF THE DAY - May 3, 2015

"Education begins the gentleman, but reading, good company,

 and reflection must finish him."

- John Locke -

As I rode my bicycle this morning to visit friends, my mind wandered over the past years of my life, reflecting on the ebbs and flows of change and resistance that life seems to generate. 

I've learned a few things over time, educated one could say (I still have the student loans to prove it). Valuable time indeed.

I have also basked in the illumination of various books too, reading and writing and contemplating what's written and what it means to me. I have been privileged to sit with others and expound on those readings and my life experiences, as well as listen to them offer themselves in light of what confounded me at the time.

All of these, education, reading, and good company, have supplemented my own personal reflection, and so doing have availed me the opportunity to succeed in my own life, especially when there was a time I believed there was no way to succeed.

Now, I'm not talking about money, that's all fine and well but it is not at the heart of what success means for me today. Success is living life to its fullest, to the best of my ability. I know how to stop and breathe. And laugh. And love another. And lend a helping hand. 

My gratitude abounds to those who snipped time out of their life schedules to partake in coffee-drinking and conversation. And all those darn books that populate my home with their brilliant spines.

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John Locke was born in Wrington, Somerset (England) on August 29, 1632 and left this world on October 28, 1704. An English physician and philosopher he was, "known as the 'Father of Classical Liberalism'." 

Locke attended the Westminister School (London) in 1647. He obtained his "bachelor's degree in 1656 and a master's degree in 1658" and "a bachelor of medicine in 1674."

Some of Locke's works are Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Two Treatises of Civil Government, and A Letter Concerning Toleration. His writings influenced some of the Founding Fathers of the United States.