"Before a famous sword can be forged, countless failures would be experienced first." -Qinsmoon

"Saying sorry in a PR crisis involves knowing what to say, how to say it, and when to say it... And most people don't." -PR professional interviewed on perfect spin

I would advise my young colleagues, the composers of symphonies, to drop in sometimes at the kindergarten, too. It is there that it is decided whether there will be anybody to understand their works in twenty years' time.
Zoltan Kodaly

p. 126: That the economic crisis is the cause of everything? Everything will be set right as soon as the economy is in order? I do not think so. Penury may hamper development but wealth does not always promote it either. Money does not produce ideas. Anyhow, there would be sufficient money here if only it were always spent on what is needed. However, the most valuable things cannot be bought with money. The greatest trouble is not the emptiness of the purse but the emptiness of the soul. And of this we have got more than our share. (1929) -Kodaly

p. 127: We put up the fancy spires first. When we saw that the whole edifice was shaky, we set to building the walls. We have still to make a cellar. This has been the situation, particularly in our musical culture. If in 1875 instead of establishing the Academy of Music, we had laid the foundations for the teaching of singing in schools, today's musical culture would be greater and more general. (1941; 1957) -Kodaly

p. 46: Children's singing games allow a more profound insight than anything else into the primeval age of folk music. Singing connected with movements and action is a much more ancient, and, at the same time, more complex phenomenon than is a simple song. .... In the same way as the child's development repeats in brief the evolution of mankind, his forms of music represent a history of music; indeed they afford a glimpse into the prehistoric period of music. From the reiteration of the smallest motif, comprising but a couple of notes, we can observe all grades of musical development up to the average stage of the European folksong... Here the child's music often touches that of adults. (1951) -Kodaly

p. 196: Today there is much talk of overburdening the students. It is true that the musician finds burdensome the learning of subjects whose direct use in his career he cannot see. If he realized, however, how much easier it is to learn every music subject, and how much time is won if he first trains himself to be a quick and sure reader, he would not rest day or night until he had achieved this. To teach a child an instrument without first giving him preparatory training and without developing singing, reading and dictating to the highest level along with the playing is to build upon sand. (1953). -Kodaly

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No more damage to self. No more damage to soul. What's done is done, and if what you've lost was important, then go and make it back if you still have breath. Start afresh if you still have life.

Uncle Iroh is one of my favorite characters on Avatar: The Last Airbender. His role as a loving, long-suffering father figure to Zuko probably strikes a chord in those of us who sometimes wish we had such a guiding figure in our darkest moments.

Beyond that however, I realize that the scenes that to me, are most defining of him were those of his time in prison. His beloved nephew had betrayed him. He was mistreated, clothed in rags, and left in a damp, dark cell with nowhere to go. The jailer mocked him daily, calling him disgraceful and useless... Yet he never took any of it to heart. He never cursed or condemned himself. Instead he worked hard, trained his body tirelessly, and waited for the right chance to escape. He never told himself he was a washout, or that he couldn't achieve anything anymore.

"The people of the Fire Nation have desire and will, and the energy and drive to achieve what they want." -Iroh

Fatherhood defines Iroh's relationships, but self-acceptance and love defines his character. This is a man who believes in himself and accepts his own limitations, and who gains a great depth of willpower as a result... and these traits are what he tries to teach a nephew who cannot accept himself, who lives in shame and self-condemnation.

"There are no perfect fathers. But a father will always love perfectly."

I think today we look at Uncle Iroh and think of his behavior as something close to the pinnacle of parenting- just the right combination of firmness and gentleness... [On a side note, "speaking the truth in love" is a commonly heard phrase in church... But I wonder whether its only reference is to speaking the truth with gentleness, or if it is not necessarily so...] The reality however, is that no parent is perfect. We can't communicate the lessons we want so dearly to impart to our children, and more often than not, they will refuse to listen... Beyond that, there are some lessons that only life can teach, truths and personal resolve that you can only attain to when you've hit rock bottom, when you've felt what it's like to break something priceless and irreplaceable with your own hands. Perhaps sometimes... it is not the place of those who love to teach, or to get frustrated when things don't work out... There are some things only the Holy Spirit can teach, or which can only be learned over the course of a lifetime... Sometimes all we can do is be there, ready to catch our children when they fall.

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What would I do if I hurt another person I loved, and found myself passing by them without acknowledgement, with nothing between us but an empty moment in time? I felt it again on Friday, the feeling that something was missing, that a connection had been lost for lack of attention or care... ... Damn. I wish that would make itself into something more poetic. Heh. But in any case, I guess all we can do at times is take such feelings in our stride and work to initiate a new connection. It should be a motivation to not repeat the mistake, rather than a constant source of self-recrimination... We can let go, but we shouldn't forget. If all you do is stare at it, it will consume you. If you try to forget what that emptiness is like, then you're also forgetting what it means to be full; the world slowly becomes a blur if you walk down that road...