People behind your screen are real.

I know I’ve brought this up before, but nothing brings it to bear more than knowing someone you are net-acquainted with is terminally ill and then finding out from their 3-D family & friends that they’ve passed away.
It doesn’t seem so cybery.
One of the longtime members of RimfireCentral.com struggled with medical problems for quite some time until he succumbed to them yesterday.
Right up until the very last of his life when he was battling strokes, cancer, and cirrhosis, he was always looking out for others. The last message I got from him was being concerned about other people who might not know that there were online/chat support groups available for help and how much of a blessing they became to him.
He made many friends in real life and in cyber space on the net.
I found something that I thought was appropriate, so I wanted to share it.
I don’t know who wrote it, or whom they wrote it for…but today, it’s for Rusty.

THE MEASURE OF A MAN

Author: Anonymous

Not - How did he die? But - How did he live?
Not - What did he gain? But - What did he give?

These are the things that measure the worth
Of a man as a man, regardless of birth.

Not - What was his station? But - had he a heart?
And - How did he play his God-given part?

Was he ever ready with a word of good cheer?
To bring back a smile, to banish a tear?

Not - What was his church? Not - What was his creed?
But - Had he befriended those really in need?

Not - What did the sketch in the newspaper say?
But - How many were sorry when he passed away?

These are the things that measure the worth
Of a man as a man, regardless of birth.

Invictus

Sometimes a poem, song lyric, or quote will strike me just the right way and really paint a vivid picture in my mind.
This is one of those. Enjoy:

Invictus
by William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods there be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this space of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.

Snow... I haz it.

Overnight and early this morning, snowfall accumulated about four inches. More is expected in the next day or so.
Time to dust off my favorite Robert Frost poem:

~Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening~

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.