Words to Live By

I'm enjoying a partial four-day weekend right now (the "partial" part means that I'll be teaching college as usual on Monday and Tuesday, but the public schools are off, and any day that doesn't require waking up at 6 a.m. counts as a "holiday" in my book), so I'll be catching up on many, many incomplete blog posts in the next few days. But in the meantime, I had to post this great quote from James Lileks in his Thursday Bleat. Earlier in the day, he had words with his daughter, who was updating something and nearly missed her school bus. Eventually, the subject came around to work:

You work, you fill up the day, you tote it up when the day is done, and figure you earned your stint on the right side of the dirt. I have the usual panoply of failings as a person and a parent, but I think I’ve instilled in my daughter one lesson: make something every day. Make something that wasn’t there before. Produce. It’s what we’re here to do, after all.

Amen and amen. And those last three sentences should be printed out and plastered on the bathroom mirrors of everyone who works in government, not to mention those who believe that said government should take care of them, rather than relying on their own personal productivity.

End of sermon. Have a great day! Updates linked as they get completed.