As You Like it!.....or not.

My friends, as you know I have been absent from this space for some time but I am still around. As I visit the Blog Space and contemplate re-entry, I have the desire to engage but as time go by and life happens, the winds of change blows in the direction that makes coping and survival occur in the best possible way. And in this case it can take us not necessarily where we want to go or want to be, but where we will go and we must stand and play. All the world's a stage!

As I think about all of this and what I think my days ahead will be like, I am reminded of my all time favorite poem and reality check from Shakespeare, As you like it! All the World’s a stage. Of course I have decided once again to take solace in the lines and focus on what life brings in this season and determined to make the best of it. So, I go on with the knowledge that all things, and people, have a time and a ‘place’ and like it or not, (know what “it” is or not) we will all go through to the destiny. “Just let the universe show you the way!”

I am hoping that this new season will be grand for me and I will be present here to share and reflect with you, but in the mean time read on, below, and take heart. I am well and I am grateful for this space and for you. See you again, soon. And for now, and for You,

Shakespeare’s As you like it!,……or not.

All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players:

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,

Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.

And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel

And shining morning face, creeping like snail

Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,

Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad

Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,

Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,

Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,

Seeking the bubble reputation

Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,

In fair round belly with good capon lined,

With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,

Full of wise saws and modern instances;

And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts

Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,

With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,

His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide

For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,

Turning again toward childish treble, pipes

And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,

That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness and mere oblivion,

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

 To my friends and colleagues in the academic arena and calendar, I wish you all a wonderful year.