Friday, July 11, 2008

Counted Sorrows

It's time for the Quote of the Day!

We can embrace love; it's not too late.

Why do we sleep, instead, with hate?

Belief requires no suspension to see that Hell is our invention.

We make Hell real; we stoke its fires.

And in its flames our hope expires.

Heaven, too, is merely our creation.

We can grant ourselves our own salvation.

All that's required is imagination.

This poem comes from Dean Koontz's The Book of Counted Sorrows. Most of his earlier novels started off with a quote from this "book". Don't be surprised to see more quotes from Koontz on here. He is one of my favorite authors.

This poem, unlike a Shakespearean sonnet (something else you will see alot of on here), is pretty much self-explanatory. We believe in Heaven and Hell, but what we don't realize is that we can create both for ourselves here on Earth, while we are still living our lives. These concepts are not mutually exclusive to an afterlife. "We make Hell real." Hell is watching your best friend walk away, not knowing if he will ever come home from the war that he is being shipped off to. Hell is watching a loved one go down a dangerous road that will most definitely lead to a miserable and hard life; and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Hell is waking up in the morning and not having any real reason to get out of bed. "Hell is our invention." However, Heaven is ours to have here, as well. Every one's Hells and Heavens are different. What matters is that we do what we can to create Heaven for ourselves and for others, everyday. Also something to note, you should never take away or judge someone's Heaven, no matter how different it is from your own.


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