I picked this one up from zaduzbina:

It is the will of God and Nature that these mortal bodies be laid aside, when the soul is to enter into real life; 'tis rather an embrio state, a preparation for living; a man is not completely born until he be dead: Why then should we grieve that a new child is born among the immortals? ~Benjamin Franklin, 22 February 1756

Although I think it is the human condition to mourn, at least in the beginning, those we have lost, for they filled a living place in our hearts, and it is not so easy as all that to simply move on. We must at least acknowledge their place in our lives.


***
Here's something I had posted on a wall in Holyoke for quite some time, and apparently I moved the piece of paper with us, as I found it the other day. It's from the Tao Te Ching.


What really matters most,
Your image or your soul?
What do you care about
Your money, or your life?
What's actually the best,
Making it -- or losing?

If you pour all your energy into one thing,
You're sure to harm the rest of your being
And if you invest it all in profit --
You'll end up losing the whole lot.

If you're not always wanting, you can be at peace.
And if you're not always trying to be someone
You can be who you really are

and go the whole way.

"It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evils in the fields that we know, so that those who came after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule." - Gandalf, in JRR Tolkien's LOTR.