D(mumble)rata

I've just posted a copy of Max Ehrmann's Desiderata and National Lampoon's Deteriorata over here. (For a short time only, that third link gives you two posts for the price of one click, reader. Great value!)

I know it probably looks like Desiderata has been done to death - tacky posters, shonky quotes, etc. - but still, I really like it. And I like what its author, Max Ehrmann, said in his journal in 1922:

I would like, if I could, to leave to my country a bit of chaste prose that had caught up some noble moods. My life is spent in a time and among a people of commercial interest, with its attending selfishness, cruelty and ostentation.

I would reclaim a little of the heart of man, infuse some gentleness into the stern ethics of trade, and make life the supreme art instead of acquisition.

If, in an hour of noble elation, I could write a bit of glorified prose that would soften the stern ways of life, and bring to our fevered days some courage, dignity and poise - I should be well content.

And if your stern ways and fevered days are getting you down, please give the Deteriorata a try: "Know yourself. If you need help, call the FBI."

;)