new year

i thought it best to start the year by posting a prayer i got from my philo teacher 3 years ago. here it is...

When I was a boy, I remember
Two thoughts kept occurring to me, and made me laugh.
An owl frightened by darkness, and a fish
Afraid of water. Why did I think of them?
Because I felt dimly the difference
Between what is, and what should be; between
Having to endure and finding one’s burden
Unendurable.
Every man
Is such an owl and such a fish, created
To work in darkness, to live in the deep;
And yet he is afraid. He splashes
In anguish towards the shore, stares at the bright
Vault of heaven, and screams: ‘Give me the air
And the blaze of day!
--Henrik Ibsen