Shine On.

It's amazing how words you hear as a child can mature in your ears as they follow you into adulthood.  Whether it be a song lyric, the title of a poem, a saying or, as in this case, a movie line. “So shines a good deed in a weary world.", nine words uttered by Willie Wonka towards the end of the original movie. It was pre-vhs/dvd/tivo/dvr/blu-ray and Willie Wonka could only be seen on network television every Thanksgiving evening. Once a year my family and I would gather in front of the TV and those words would ring in my young ears and my young heart nourishing my growing mind.

These were pearls of wisdom forming in the oyster shell of my life by the gentle irritation of the sands of time. As I got older, I learned that the saying was not written by Roald Dahl but by William Shakespeare and the whole quote was, "How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world.". I was amazed to find out that even in Shakespeare's time, those words rung true.

Wouldn't the world be a better place if this saying weren't true? Would good deeds go unnoticed if the world were not so weary? I'm not sure, but I'd like to think, while Shakespeare wrote these word, he thought and hoped, as I do, that some day a future generation would find out.

I have tried to live my life by these words and so many others that have fermented in my heart and mind. Sometimes I succeed admirably and other times I fail miserably. I know as long as I pass on these timeless pieces of wisdom to my children and those I meet, I will leave the world one step closer to a place where good deeds are but a flicker and the hearts of men extinguish a weary world.