Quotes for Wednesday and Thoughts on Oslo

I'll start with some quotes for today.  It is one of my favorite things to do to go to the quote randomizer and see what pops up for the day.  I can almost always find something that relates to my life currently.  The quotes that stood out to me today:

"What you are is a question only you can answer."

Lois McMaster Bujold, The Warrior's Apprentice, 1986

"A person who trusts no one can't be trusted." -Jerome Blattner

"It is one of the beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to be kind to another, without helping himself." -Bailey

"I am not a star. A star is nothing more than a ball of gas." -Elijah Wood

"It is right to be contented with what we have, never with what we are." -Sir James MacKintosh

"If you can't appreciate what you've got, then you had better get what you can appreciate." -George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950), Pygmalion

What I get when I put all these quotes together is the message, be happy with what I have, trust more, and even though I'm happy with what I have...strive to become a better person each day.

We are all asking ourselves...how could someone do what they did in Oslo?  Oslo, like so many sad events before has made our jaws drop.  Our hearts sink.  I could focus on the unspeakable horror but that has already been done.  And honestly how can we not focus on something like that.  We will never understand the reasons behind acts like that...we never can understand it.  And that is a good thing because what would it say of us if something like that made sense.  

But I read an article yesterday that inspired me.  The people of Oslo and Norway in general, instead of dwelling on anger and revenge in the face of tragedy...held large peace rallies instead.  Large majorities of the population in different cities showed up.  They chose to move forward with their lives and honor the victims and loved ones with a message of peace.  

Surely this would diminish the satisfaction a perpetrator of such carnage could achieve watching these people moving forward, honoring peace.  And what can be said of someone who targets people in a country where the maximum sentence one can get in prison is...20 years?  21 years?  They were even his own people.  

I can choose to rage at this person for what he has done, this villain.  But what I should take issue with instead is extremism.  The ability to rationalize killing in the name of religion.  What I do take issue with is hate.  No one can claim to be part of any religion (for the most part) and practice hate.  I may never understand how this person's choice of victims and way of hurting them makes any sense with the religious ideals he claimed to be a part of.  But dwelling on pain seldom helped anyone.  Instead I commend Oslo for showing their true spirit with the peace gatherings and wish them great comfort.  And I thank them for inspiring us all to be better.

Completely unrelated, but here are a few new paintings I just finished since I like to include them in my blog postings as I complete them.  Since I eat, sleep, and breathe painting: