Exhaust the little moment
Soon it dies
And be it gash or gold
It will not come
Again in this identical
Disguise.
...Gwendolyn Brooks
I found one of my best teachers on the boardwalk at Coney Island many years ago. It was December and I was doing a story about how the homeless suffer in the winter months. He told me that most of the time he stayed on the boardwalk, facing the water, just the way we were sitting now, even when it got cold and he had to wear his newspapers after he had read them. And I asked him why. Why didn’t he go to one of the shelters? Why didn’t he check himself into the hospital for detox? And he stared out at the ocean and said “Look at the view, young lady. Look at the view.” And every day, in some little way, I try to do what he said. I try to look at the view. That’s all. Words of wisdom from a man with not a dime in his pocket, no place to go, nowhere to be. Look at the view. When I do what he said, I am never disappointed.
...an excerpt from the book
A Short Guide to a Happy Life by Anna Quindlen
Thanks for mention the TT.