[Granville-Hough] 17 Dec 2009 - How We Spend Our Dash

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Thu, 17 Dec 2009 08:15:03 -0800
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: Holiday Greetings - How We Spend Our Dash - 17 Dec 2009

    It is a wonderful gift from God that I can send you Christmas
greetings in the last week of my 87th year (Dec 2009, and on my 88th
birthday, maybe, in 2010 .  I never expected to do
this, and I do not know what I did to deserve it.  I wish you and your
families the belief in God, great joy of life, the ability to help
others, and kindness to each other.
    I recall a poem I once read about a person looking at a vast
military cemetery and remarking that all the markers had in common was
the dash between the two dates of birth and death.  "What is the meaning
of that dash," he asked, then said:

"For it matters not, how much we own;

the cars...the house...the cash.

What matters is how we live and love

and how we spend our dash."

Then about New Year's resolutions we might say:

"So think about this long and hard...

are there things we'd like to change?

For we never know how much time there is left

that can still be rearranged."

With my love and affection, Granville Hough