Das Miscellany

Musings on software, math, guitars and more ...

On Perspective

And the Tao of Ted

22 Aug 2021

Perspective

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (Tokyo, to be precise) my wife and I welcomed our first born into the world. His name is Edward but from the moment he first entered our lives he somehow became Ted/Teddy and such he remains to this day. For my birthday that year My Lovely Wife(tm) gave me one of the best presents I have ever received, a little homemade photo album called “The Tao of Ted”, a collection of cute pictures of the boy accompanied by quotes from all sorts of people on the nature of life and happiness. I don’t think she knew just exactly how profound it was at the time but it encapsulates a collection of simple truths (perspectives) that we should all embrace.

It popped back up on my desk the other day after some tidying up around the house and I was reminded of just how special it is. It deserves to be held up and for its wisdom to be shared. Listen to The Ted, he knows what he’s talking about.

The Tao of Ted

Refections on a simple, happy life
by Ted, aged 6 1/2 months

Here's looking at you Dad!

My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard.
Mother would come out and say "You're tearing up the grass!"
"We're not raising grasss", Dad would reply. "We're raising boys"
~ Harmon Killebrew

Nothing quite beats a nap
~ Ted

Once my fingers were the most fascinating thing I'd ever felt
~ Ted

A father carries pictures where his money used to be
~ Unknown

When there's nothing but mess all around you, it helps to smile
~ Ted

My riches consist not in the extent of my possessions but in the fewness of my wants
~ J. Brotherton

Things turn out the best for people who make the best out of the way things turn out
~ Art Linkletter

To be upset over what you don't have is to waste what you do have
~ Ken Keys Jr

We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars
~ Oscar Wilde

He didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it
~ Clarence Budington Kelland

If you don't get everything you want, think of the things that you didn't get that you didn't want
~ Unknown

A happy person is not a person with a certain set of circumstances but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes
~ Hugh Downs

I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.
~ Winston Churchill

Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things
~ Robert Brault

If you can't see things clearly, try looking at them updside down
~ Ted

Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learnt a little; and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick; and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so let us all be thankful.
~ The Buddha

Surprises can be fun!
~ Ted

It's all about perspective
~ Ted
"It's snowing still" said Eeeyore gloomily.
"So it is"
"And freezing"
"Is it?"
"Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said, brightening up a little, "We haven't
had an earthquake lately."
~ A. A. Milne