For musician Teitur, singing is about giving away a piece of yourself to others. "If your intentions are to impress people or to get the big applause at the end," he says, "then you are taking, not giving." Listen as he plays on stage at TED2015, offering two songs about love, distance and home.
The Long and Winding Roads
The wisdom of living is discovered via a journey that we each must take. Just as we each travel a different road, we also each possess a unique potential to develop our body, mind and spirit into a whole person. We can begin building the fully functional lifestyle that nurtures our total being. No one else can walk the exact same roads of our personal journey. And no one can spare us.
In order to discover the different roads available to us we may all need to travel far from our homes and learn how to read the various signs of navigation of the different long and winding roads of life. Sometimes there is difficulty in reading the signposts of life because we may be unfamiliar with their symbols and meanings. If this is the case then we may need to take a basic course in the navigation of paradigms for living, one of which is Rotary's motto of "service above self." In our e-club we may all call "home" a different city, state or even country, but our real home is mother earth and serving others is the rent we pay for living on this great planet.
"There are many truths of which the full meaning cannot be realized until personal experience has brought it home."
I always like Aesop's fables and one of the best related to our home goes like this:
The Country Mouse And The City Mouse
A quiet, Country Mouse once entertained an old playmate who had gone to the city to live. Though his wealth was very little, the Country Mouse saved up so that dinner for his City Mouse friend would be a good one. He had put away some very nice peas and cheese, and a tasty ripe apple for dessert.
When he and his friend sat down to dinner, the Country Mouse didn't eat any food, but politely chewed away at a piece of straw, so that his City friend would be sure to have enough.
When they had finished, the City Mouse said in a very superior way, "How can you bear to live in such a dismal place? Nothing but woods, meadows, mountains and streams. Don't you get bored with no society, and no lively conversation? It must be awfully dull. Why don't you come to the city with me tonight? I'll show you how you can have a great time all of the time."
The little Country Mouse had always been perfectly contented where he was, but he was willing to try something that sounded so good.
So they set out that evening for the city. About midnight they walked into the beautiful mansion where the City Mouse lived. There had been a great party the day before and bits of food were waiting for the picking.
They sat on beautiful Persian rugs and nibbled this and that until the Country Mouse was pleasantly full. He began to think maybe his life was pretty dull down there in the country.
Just then there was a bang and a crash that made them jump a mouse mile. The master of the house had come home. With him came two enormous dogs that barked and ran round, nearly scaring the life out of both the mice, who scurried for safety.
"Thank you ever so much," said the Country Mouse to his City friend, "That was fine while it lasted, but I think I'll just keep right on moving until I reach my quiet, dull little home back in the country. A few dry peas will do me very well as long as I can enjoy them quietly and not have my appetite scared out of me. You are welcome to your exciting city life, I'll take the country."
"It's a wise person who has enough and is happy with it."
Most of our e-club members have enough, but we are truly growing rich through our vibrant Rotary community and helping to serve all of humanity.
Sometimes finding our values amidst our confusion and conflicts, is the catalyst to turn our lives around. I was reminded of this by a story about Darrel Teel, a drifter with only nine cents to his name. Darrel didn't have a home or job, and what money he did get was used to buy alcohol.
Then he found a handbag bulging with $29,200 cash in a field while he looked for cigarette butts. The money was the lost life savings of an elderly lady, who just did not trust banks. The excitement and feeling of greed, changed into soul-searching, and then transformed into ethics. Darrel turned the money in to the Sheriff's Department after thinking "I don't steal. I'd like to earn this kind of money, but I don't steal."
This one act of honesty seems to have turned Darrel's life around. He received a citizen's award, the community raised $3,000 to help him start his life anew, and he had several job offers to select from. He quit drinking. "Even his personality changed." With this one act of honesty, Darrel regained his self-respect, pride and dignity.
"You are what you are when nobody's looking."
Ann Landers
The City of Our Dreams
In the hiddenness of time there was a poor man who left his village, weary of his life, longing for a place where he could escape all the struggles of this earth. He set out in search of a magical city - the heavenly city of his dreams, where all things would be perfect. He walked all day and by dusk found himself in a forest, where he decided to spend the night. Eating the crust of bread he had brought, he said his prayers and, just before going to sleep, placed his shoes in the center of the path, pointing them in the direction he would continue the next morning. Little did he imagine that while he slept, a practical joker would come along and turn his shoes around, pointing them back in the direction from which he had come.
The next morning, in all the innocence of folly, he got up, gave thanks to the Lord of the Universe, and started on his way again in the direction that his shoes pointed. For a second time he walked all day, and towards evening finally saw the magical city in the distance. It wasn't as large as he had expected. As he got closer, it looked curiously familiar. But, he pressed on, found a street much like his own, knocked on a familiar door, greeted the family he found there - and lived happily ever after in the magical city of his dreams.
Perhaps it is time to retrace our steps and rediscover the roots that have served families well for generations.
"While our treasures may be at home all along, that knowledge may require distant wanderings."
The Treasure In The Kitchen
In a far-off country, there lived a poor man whose family seldom ate their fill. One night in a dream he saw a distant city and noticed a certain bridge with a treasure buried beneath it. The dream was so vivid that he couldn't forget it. So finally, he decided to walk all the way to the city to see for himself.
When he arrived in the city, he recognized it from his dream. He found the bridge and went under to locate the treasure. Suddenly a soldier grabbed him and took him away for questioning. He was asked what he was doing prowling under the bridge. He said he was looking for treasure that he had seen in a dream.
The soldier broke into laughter and said " You idiot! You can't trust what you see in dreams? Why, for the last two weeks I have dreamt that far away in the country, there is a treasure buried under the stove in a poor man's kitchen. Wouldn't it be stupid if I were to go looking for it? One could waste a lifetime looking for a treasure that doesn't exist!" Still laughing, the soldier gave him a swift kick and let him go. Then the poor man returned to his own home, where he moved the stove in his kitchen. He found the treasure buried there, and lived to a ripe old age as a rich man.
"The presence of eternity is hidden within every present moment, but the freedom to grasp it comes only by risking oneself to an uncertain future."
