Thought For the Day: Without Courage, We Cannot Practice Any Other Virtue With Consistency. We Can’t Be Kind, True, Merciful, Generous, Or Honest.

“One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.” – Maya Angelou

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First Principles: There Ain’t No Ticks Like Poly-Ticks. Bloodsuckers All

“There ain’t no ticks like poly-ticks. Bloodsuckers all.” – Davy Crockett

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Love’s Cost

Love's Cost
by Michael Doyle

No matter who it is that you might meet
As you walk down life's long street,
You might never know how she may feel.
So, it's important to make this real.

It's more than wedding bells' chime,
A counterfeit love would be such a crime.
You can dress it up in ribbons and bows,
But if the light of day reveals too many shadows?

If your love couldn't pay the cost,
What is it that you've really lost?
If she chooses the bruises of walking away,
Are you not better off in a million ways?

Maybe you find that it's more than okay
That the imposter could not love this way.
Maybe you know your heart deserves a better fate,
And that for true love, you can afford to wait.

You can dress it up as some fine romance
But if she's not willing to give the chance,
Maybe it's better that she didn't stick around,
Tomorrow, something better will be found.

If your love couldn't pay the cost,
What is it that you've really lost?
If she chooses the bruises of walking away,
Are you not better off in a million ways?

You're left there on the altar, your heart breaking,
But brother, it's better than sadly mistaking
Someone who, in the end, will never be reliable,
Maybe you were asking more than she was capable.

There's hurt enough to steal your soul,
But you can't let it gain and lose control.
It seems fickle fate won't allow her finger
To hold your ring or for your love to linger.

If your love couldn't pay the cost,
What is it that you've really lost?
If she chooses the bruises of walking away,
Are you not better off in a million ways?

But holding on to a broken line of communication,
Won't help to restore the life of this relation.
Sometimes a bird just needs to fly away and be free.
Believe in yourself and find your right destiny.

Happiness and love must begin inside to persist.
It's true, no matter how hard loneliness is to resist.
Love yourself first if you are to ever love another.
This is the secret to real love being so much better.

If your love couldn't pay the cost,
What is it that you've really lost?
If she chooses the bruises of walking away,
Are you not better off in a million ways?

(c) March 24, 2026 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
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Thought For the Day: We Are Not Determined By Our Experiences, But Are Self-Determined By the Meaning We Give To Them

“We are not determined by our experiences, but are self-determined by the meaning we give to them; and when we take particular experiences as the basis for our future life, we are almost certain to be misguided to some degree. Meanings are not determined by situations. We determine ourselves by the meanings we ascribe to situations.” – Alfred Adler

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First Principles: Experience Has Shown That the Trade of the East Is the Key to National Wealth and Influence

“Experience has shown that the trade of the East is the key to national wealth and influence.” – Chester A. Arthur

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Sorrowful Oasis

Sorrowful Oasis
by Michael Doyle

In the end, a label is a name,
And a name is often a useful label.
In an age-old sort of game,
We play it often when we're capable.

The attributes of each scream
Tells us that necessary something
That lies beyond desert skies and dreams
The something clung to is often nothing.

All that we think we know as real
Is often an illusion hiding the truth to reveal.
We raid in the night to plunder and steal,
Hiding the truth of eyes behind the seventh veil.

Sometimes life hides us away,
There in the self-imprisoned darkness.
We'd like daylight to come and stay,
But other times call for harshness.

The past we didn't want to know
We remember better than we thought we did.
It strains at us like an 8mm picture show.
Despite names and labels, we can't keep truth hid.

All that we think we know as real
Is often an illusion hiding the truth to reveal.
We raid in the night to plunder and steal,
Hiding the truth of eyes behind the seventh veil.

Tears flash into a swift flowing flood,
An oasis can hold onto too much sorrow.
Afghani sandals get stuck in time's mud
Fleeing from every yesterday's tomorrow.

An old man sits in his shadowed contemplation
Holding on to what he thought he knew yesterday.
Is this life real or only tatters of imagination?
The why of why things happen, only fools can say.

All that we think we know as real
Is often an illusion hiding the truth to reveal.
We raid in the night to plunder and steal,
Hiding the truth of eyes behind the seventh veil.

Afghanistan - she is often called -
As the heartbeat of an unconquerable nation.
And while a fortress might eventually fall,
No one, but itself, can really conquer a true nation.

We want to believe, and we do at the start,
In all the fairytales that share the good.
We cling to this n our heart of hearts -
To something we only hoped would be understood.

All that we think we know as real
Is often an illusion hiding the truth to reveal.
We raid in the night to plunder and steal,
Hiding the truth of eyes behind the seventh veil.

(c)March 23, 2026 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
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Thought For the Day: The Fact That Millions of People Share the Same Vices Does Not Make These Vices Virtues

“The fact that millions of people share the same vices does not make these vices virtues, the fact that they share so many errors does not make the errors to be truths, and the fact that millions of people share the same form of mental pathology does not make these people sane.” – Erich Fromm

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First Principles: The Less Government Interferes With Private Pursuits, the Better For General Prosperity

“The less government interferes with private pursuits, the better for general prosperity.” – Martin Van Buren

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Identity From the Trinity

Identity From the Trinity
by Michael Doyle

The surplus of gain is met
In ways that are nothing but net.
Fifty-two held to the Lord's plan,
Living life as only the faithful can.

Giving the Lord our deference,
We run our race with perseverance.
Living this way in our living day,
We influence our world in this way.

God's son was allowed to perish,
Giving eternal life, we might cherish.
The Living Word, we each have been given,
To face this world in which we are living.

The Apostle John helped heal the rift,
So that each of us might understand the gift.
Lying down our lives and giving all,
When we heeded the Lord's merciful call.

The Gospels can be seen as snapshots of love.
From these, we learn the ways of the above.
John wrote to provide us all with an explanation
For all believed about our Lord's resurrection.

Purposeful and filled with illumination,
Deity and humanity required explanation.
Given in moments of fullness and inspiration,
John's words reveal what it is to be a Christian.

John helped make us certain of Jesus' identity,
Teaching the Bread of Life with its sanctity.
Seven "I Am" statements are given to clarify,
Crushing and pressing us to extract our humanity.

The Gospel Story turns lives around
To be born again with a true connection found.
Born again like a conversion at the well,
Where we learn our souls were meant to dwell.

God desires that we all become as if one,
Like the triune God, His will be done.
The heavenly skies were split by this door,
Seeking only through this voice's light to be more.

We remain like ourselves, only somehow different
As we've changed our lives, we've become reverent.
This then is how it is to be born again.
We become holier than we once were then.

Stuck with being blind, lame, and paralyzed,
We work our way without being overanalyzed.
We are humbled into our greatest humility,
And we learn of God's love for all of humanity.

We are reminded to not give in and backslide,
Losing our way in our many sins and our pride.
Jesus never gives up on our cause,
Regardless of how we slip up about His laws.

On Patmos, John wrote out Revelation,
Centered on what will be our godly destination.
War, tension, and strife are yet to come
As we prepare for our Father's coming kingdom.

Fully God and yet walking in the guise of humanity.
The end times are not spoken of out of vanity.
But a calling out of what is yet to come
As you and I take our part in the kingdom.

It's captivating to know that we're still living.
The Lord continues to call on us to keep giving.
There are dreams to fulfill across our Christian nation.
We must do our part until time's completion.

There are things to be done in His service,
Living out our lives to His full purposes.
This is the triumph of God's holy grace,
Receiving all of our lives in His loving embrace.

(c) March 22, 2026 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
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Thought For the Day: There Is No Other Salvation Except That Which Begins and Ends With Grace

“There is no other salvation except that which begins and ends with grace.” – Charles Spurgeon

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