Hey, Am I the first to notice that the subject line in this string
is a tiny poem?
To Diamond Eddy and anyone else wondering,
The name of the piece quoted is “Desiderata.” I think I first saw it
in about 1968 tacked on an outhouse wall in Topanga, California.
That first copy came along with a little explanation that the author
was unknown and the words had been found in some church (I think in
Baltimore) about 300 years ago or more. After that first time it
kept cropping up everywhere, in later years without the story about
its being found in a church. Finally it got to be a durned nuisance.
OK! Enough already! I believe I read a story about it sometime at
least 15 years ago debunking the fable about its mysterious origins.
From the first I thought it had some good notions in it but also
that it was a little too airy or overly earnest. Mind you, I like
earnest people. Some of my best friends are earnest. But they drive
me crazy too.
Turns out it was written and copywrited in 1933 by someone named Max
Erhman. Look it up on Google and you’ll find more about it than you
ever wanted to know.
Marty Hykin, Victoria, BC