Chocolate's only Semi Sweet

Shakespeare was the first to use the phrase "too much of a good thing" in literature. It is a phrase that emphasizes that excess can be harmful and that even the richest things in life should be moderated. The world's most popular examples: Money, Power, Love, Authority. The real troubles with having so much of something are that it inspires jealousy and you may not be able to handle it. Politicians are assassinated, the wealthy are manipulated, the passionate scorned, and the authoritative ignored every day since man began. In our quest for more, we pull each other down like crabs in a bucket. It isn't a bad thing to want to improve your quality of life, but when quality becomes quantity people will start to resent you, including yourself. So how does one decide what the limits are for each of us individually? The most elegant way I have heard this philosophy was by Rudyard Kipling in his poem "If." I include a portion of the work here.

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Simply put, you could have all that there is in material possessions, but have some humility because in this world all that we poses can be taken from us. Its the effect you've had on others that will determine whether you lived a worth while life, not the number of things you've accumulated. When the day is over, it won't matter who loved the most, but who loved the best.

The Seed of Ambition

Through the course of history, ambition has taken many forms. Greed, Manifest Destiny, even the "American Dream" to some extent. Often times, though, ambition can be the heart of disharmony. In your climb to reach the top, you may drag others down. Was this not the case in all of the crusades and the exploration of the "New World?" Or in corporations when workers resort to back-stabbing and brown-nosing? Is it right that others should have to fall for us to rise? President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, once said that for us as a people to triumph, we must stand together and lift where we stand. That through unity, we may best further ourselves and our cause. This day, for the first time in the history of our great nation, an African American has been elected to the office of President of the United States of America. I imagine that at the start of his campaign, President Obama felt that perhaps he was being too ambitious, that our day was not the day, nor our time the time for such a revolutionary idea. But the people have spoken that this is the day and time for a man of this caliber. And with this decision they have high hopes for their future. I make no claim that I know what may happen over the next four to eight years, but I do hold firm in the belief that a strong will to overcome and rise is always in the public interest. Even if it only serves to inspire others to take a stand themselves.