"The duty we owe ourselves is greater than that we owe others."
-- Louisa May Alcott

On any commercial airplane flight, you've heard these instructions:

"In the event of decompression, an oxygen mask will automatically appear in front of you. To start the flow of oxygen, pull the mask towards you. Place it firmly over your nose and mouth, secure the elastic band behind your head, and breathe normally. Although the bag does not inflate, oxygen is flowing to the mask. If you are travelling with a child or someone who requires assistance, secure your mask first, and then help the other person."

My natural impulse would be to try to make sure everyone around me had their mask on before I got to mine. Of course, if I did that, I'd be unconscious and definitely no help at all. I know there are times that putting myself first is vital to my health and sanity, as awkward as it seems. As a chronic over-functioner, I'm working on believing it!

Life today is indeed a shipwreck. To avoid being drowned, I make some time every day to step back from the chaos, to work at regaining my perspective and balance. I pull some weeds, listen to the birds, scratch my cat under her chin, and (most important of all) laugh long and hard at the absurdity of life.

"The dog has the soul of a philosopher."
-- Plato, The Republic

Many thanks to the fellow artist who suggested this quotation!

In Book ll of The Republic, Socrates says that a dog "distinguishes the face of a friend and of an enemy only by the criterion of knowing and not knowing. And must not an animal be a lover of learning who determines what he likes and dislikes by the test of knowledge and ignorance? … And is not the love of learning the love of wisdom, which is philosophy?"