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I posted this piece of prose several years ago on blogster.com and the paraphrased version in parentheses is the composite of all my friends on blogster.com who contributed their ideas of a more modern version rather than the rather stilted verse from 1692.
Again, I am seeing and feeling the pressures in today's world, what with war still in the news all the time and the economy in the tank, and many people suffering financially as a result.
Further comments are appreciated, and maybe a new version can be published.
GO PLACIDLY AMIDST THE NOISE AND HASTE……….
From a finding in Old St. Paul’s Church in Baltimore, Maryland in 1692!
Go placidly amidst the noise and haste and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.
(Easy does it; go with the flow. Serenity may come through prayer and meditation. Without compromising your values or being taken advantage of, extend peace and good will to all. Calmly, be honest with others, listening to all, for everyone has gifts to share.)
Avoid loud and aggressive persons, for they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
(Avoid overbearing people, for they dampen your enthusiasm. Live and let live: you may become conceited or jealous by comparing yourself with others. Enjoy goals accomplished, as well as goals planned or in progress.)
Keep interested in your career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.
(Despite the reality of globalization, keep current in your vocation/avocation. This will provide stability in these rapidly changing times. Be careful how and where you invest your capital, as there is evidence of individual and corporate fraud. However, don’t forget that the majority of people are good and many are working for the welfare of others.)
Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, love is perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
(Be genuine and congruent with regard to healthy thoughts, feelings, and actions. Remember that, despite life’s disappointments, love is eternal and “conquers all.†Learn from past experiences, and forgive yourself for past mistakes.)
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune, but do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
(Renew your faith, which allays challenges, anxieties, and fears, and dispels despair, giving you more energy. Intend to live your principles, but forgive yourself.)
You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
(You are a child of God and thus belong to God’s family. While often oblivious to God’s plan for our lives, be patient, for it is a reality.)
Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive of Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy.
(Therefore, don’t fight God, despite the challenges occurring in our busy, complicated lives. Despite what you think of this “master of our universe,†and the life’s problems, there is harmony in our orderly world. Be cautious along your journey of life, asking God to grant you a joyful and peaceful mind.)
Desiderata is Latin for "Things to be Desired."
The author is Max Ehrmann, a poet and lawyer from Terre Haute, Indiana, who lived from 1872 to 1945. It has been reported that Desiderata was inspired by an urge that Ehrmann wrote about in his diary:
"I should like, if I could, to leave a humble gift -- a bit of chaste prose that had caught up some noble moods."
Around 1959, the Rev. Frederick Kates, the rector of St. Paul's Church in Baltimore, Maryland, used the poem in a collection of devotional materials he compiled for his congregation. He failed to credit Max Ehrmann. (Some years earlier he had come across a copy of Desiderata.) At the top of the handout was the notation, "Old St. Paul's Church, Baltimore A.C. 1692."
The church was founded in 1692. [1]
As the material was handed from one friend to another, the authorship became clouded. Copies with the "Old St. Paul's Church" notation were printed and distributed liberally in the years that followed. It is perhaps understandable that a later publisher would interpret this notation as meaning that the poem itself was found in Old St. Paul's Church, dated 1692. This notation no doubt added to the charm and historic appeal of the poem, despite the fact that the actual language in the poem suggests a more modern origin. The poem was popular prose for the "make peace, not war" movement of the 1960s.
When Adlai Stevenson died in 1965, a guest in his home found a copy of Desiderata near his bedside and discovered that Stevenson had planned to use it in his Christmas cards. The publicity that followed gave widespread fame to the poem as well as the mistaken relationship to St. Paul's Church. [1]
As of 1977, the rector of St. Paul's Church was not amused by the confusion. Having dealt with the confusion "40 times a week for 15 years," he was sick of it.
This misinterpretation has only added to the confusion concerning whether or not the poem is in the public domain.