ON TURNING WISHES INTO ACTION

As you get along in life you spend a lot of time wishing -- wishing that you'd accomplished more, wishing that you'd done some things differently, wishing that the world was a better place...At least I do.

But you know what?  Wishing alone never accomplishes anything.  It is what you do with those wishes that counts for something in life...and it is never too late to start doing your small part to make the world, at least, a better place.

The following poem "Wishing" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox was recently brought to my attention and I could not help but "wish" that I had written it myself.  I'll simply do the next best thing by sharing it here for the edification of my friends and others who may stumble upon it.

Do you wish the world were better?

Let me tell what to do ...

Set a watch upon your actions,

Keep them always straight and true.

Rid your mind of selfish motives,

Let your thoughts be clean and high.

You can make a little Eden

Of the sphere you occupy.

Do you wish the world were wiser?

Well, suppose you make a start,

By accumulating wisdom

In the scrapbook of your heart;

Do not waste one page on folly;

Live to learn ... and learn to live.

If you want to give men knowledge

You must get it, ere you give.

Do you wish the world were happy?

Then remember day by day

Just to scatter seeds of kindness

As you pass along the way,

For the pleasures of the many

May be ofttimes traced to one.

As the hand that plants an acorn

Shelters armies from the sun.

I strongly believe that we all tend to begin our reforms too far away from home. The persons who wish improvement strongly enough to first set to work on themselves are the persons who will achieve results.