"Gracias a la Vida" is a famous song covered by the English socialist folk singer Roy Bailey (hear him singing it below). A literal translation of the title is "Thanks to Life". The deeper meaning of the song (composed by Chilean folk legend Violeta Parra) is an emotional ode to the human experience. It celebrates the profound gratitude for both the joys (laughter, love, sight) and the sorrows (tears, agony) that make up a full life. The message is that without experiencing the pain and agony, one cannot truly appreciate the happiness and joy of existence. The song beautifully concludes that all of these experiences blend into one universal human song. Hugely moving.
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Benjamin Franklin (17 January – 17 April 1790). An American polymath. One of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A drafter and signer of the Declaration of Independence. When only twenty years of age, Benjamin Franklin drafted for his own use his plan for living a virtuous life.
My intention being to acquire the habitude of all these virtues, I judg’d it would be well not to distract my attention by attempting the whole at once, but to fix it on one of them at a time; and, when I should be master of that, then to proceed to another, and so on, till I should have gone thro’ the thirteen; and, as the previous acquisition of some might facilitate the acquisition of certain others, I arrang’d them with that view, as they stand above. |
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