Now, if you are confused by the above paragraph, then my work here is done….. No, really, there’s no point to it, or in it, or even near it. It’s just that I noticed that Murphy seems to make my intro section, at least for a mention, just about every day. He certainly appears on my tag cloud every day, as being one of the subjects under discussion in the Pearl for the day….. That is not necessarily something I wish to be, but, it’s like that hive of bees living in my head….. there they are. So, I figured, today, I’ll just get his mention out of the way in paragraph one, and be done with it. I should have known, he would be there to force me into further mention, stretching his influence to another paragraph or two….. and, yep, here he is, in number two, with more needed to be said.

Murphy’s bottom line is this: If something CAN go wrong, it WILL go wrong. The not so obvious, but no less true corollary is : If there is a chance of more than one thing going wrong, the one that happens will be the one that will cause the most damage. There are, of course, many more corollaries and codicils to the basic law, and all of them hammer home the same theme, i.e., you are not in charge of the universe, so get used to it…… I know, that’s a bit harsh, but, it’s true, nonetheless. I didn’t write it, you know, I just point it out….

Maybe if he would leave me be occasionally, I wouldn’t feel so compelled to disrespect him in print so often. But, NOOOOOOOO, he can’t even let me go a single day without registering his presence somehow, generally within moments of my waking up. It’s as if he had a grudge against me for something I’ve done that annoyed him, but, damn me if I know what it might have been. He doesn’t seem interested in letting me know what it was, or is, that I’ve done, or do, so there isn’t much I can do about it, beyond sucking it up and getting on with the day. Which is probably what I should do now, as this damned intro section is getting out of hand again…. Damn! When I began, I had no intention of putting out four or five paragraphs on this, but, here I am in the fourth one, and no signs of slowing down are noted…..

I would guess the only solution now is to just dump this where it is, and go for the morning dive. What the hell, it can’t be any more ridiculous than this is getting to be, eh? It’s enough to give one pause, in considering how the upcoming new year is going to go, given Murphy’s ubiquitous attentions. Brrr, that makes me shiver…. I think I’ll just go on now, and not even go there…. Three days to the New Year is close enough for me, thanks….. Shall we Pearl?

“Whatever it is, it won’t work.” — Smart Bee
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Here is a very, very old school pearl…. Back in 1998 or so, when I first started creating the P’sOVW, there was only one quote included in the daily email, with a few short comments. In essence, I tried to pick quotes that could stand alone, and give the Gentle Reader a nudge in some valuable direction. Over the years, the process has grown to the stage of development you now see here on a daily basis. Who’s to say whether it is an improvement? Only me, and I’m not sure….

Any who, I found this one hanging around Smart Bee, and it stopped me in my tracks…. It is a perfect pearl…. By that, I mean it is, all by itself, worthy of contemplation, and assimilation into one’s world view, by virtue of its depth and veracity…. If you cannot see that, just let the phrase sort of float around in your head a while, and I think you’ll begin to understand….. If not, well, there are more pearls below….

“Truth is an empty room.” — Smart Bee
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I have a Bird in spring
Which for myself doth sing —
The spring decoys.
And as the summer nears —
And as the rose appears,
Robin is gone

Yet I do not repine
Knowing that Bird of mine
Though flown —
Learneth beyond the sea
Melody new for me
And will return.

Faster in a safer hand
Held in a truer Land
Are mine –
And though they now depart,
Tell I my doubting heart
They’re thine.

In a serener Bright
In a more golden light
I see
Each little doubt and fear,
Each little discord here
Removed.

The will I not repine,
Knowing that Bird of mine
Though flown
Shall in a distant tree
Bright melody for me
Return.

~~ Emily Dickinson
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“For one human being to love another human being: that is perhaps the most difficult task that has been entrusted to us, the ultimate task, the final test and proof, the work for which all other work is merely preparation.” — Rainer Maria Rilke

Perhaps Rainer Maria is right, for living without love is often followed by giving up, and death from loneliness. Other, more dark emotions, such as rage, anger, or desire for revenge may give reason to carry on without love, but not for long. These destructive passions will eat up a soul from within if carried for long, as we all have reason to know, from history, and too often, from experience.

When we are in love, we have a purpose for all that we do, and our lifetime of preparation is only then fulfilled. When love goes, or fails to thrive and flourish, for whatever reasons, we lose that sense of purpose, and feel pain as only the bereft can know. Though I have always given my own love freely, I have felt such betrayal myself, all too many times. I cannot explain it, as I’ve never given any of the women with whom I’ve been involved any reason to doubt my love, my fidelity, or my willingness to be flexible. Honor was, apparently, not enough to add to love to make it indispensable…..

“Of all the agonies of life, that which is most poignant and harrowing- that which for the most time annihilates reason and leaves our whole organization one lacerated, mangled heart- is the conviction that we have been deceived where we placed all the trust of love.” — Bulwer

This gets a big, “fer sure!” from me…. Nothing hurts more than love betrayed, and I can say this from personal experience, as can most of us. Ah well, love is a big subject, and I could spend a long time finding quotes, and commenting on them, without ever fully completing the task of understanding love, or understanding what it means to us humans.

In fact, I find myself now lost, with no place to take this pearl that will work to increase my, or your, understanding of the matter. It affects us all, on a very personal level, of course, but each in a different manner, and thus can only be shared with difficulty. Since I’ve lost the thread of what I was searching for, I’ll leave you with some verse on the subject, and leave this discussion in limbo, where it may or may not find its way back to reality….

Amor, ch’al cor gentil ratto s’apprende,
prese costui de la bella persona
che mi fu tolta; e ‘l modo ancor m’offende.
Amor, ch’a nullo amato amar perdona,
mi prese del costui piacer si` forte,
che, come vedi, ancor non m’abbandona.
Amor condusse noi ad una morte.

Love, which is quickly kindled in a gentle heart,
seized this one for the fair form
that was taken from me-and the way of it affects me still.
Love, which absolves no loved one from loving,
seized me so strongly with delight in him,
that, as you see, it does not leave me even now.
Love brought us to one death.

— Dante, La Divina Commedia: Inferno V, vv. 100-106
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I have to say, this is one of the strangest Pearls I’ve done in a while….. Choppy and incomplete is how it feels, though I’ve put in a lot of work to get it where it is. I can honestly say it isn’t the best of all possible Pearls; it isn’t even in the top 50%. But, it has that ineffable characteristic of all good Pearls, to wit: it is done.

It’s probably just as well nobody pays me to do any of this, as that might encourage me….. Not that I need encouragement to continue doing the only thing that is keeping me sane, but, it had to be said…. Perhaps if I was getting paid, I’d have a little shame, but, since I’m not, I think I can get away with it…. as long as y’all don’t blow the whistle on me……  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..