100 of His Most Celebrated Tales

For those of  you who frequent the SoGoPro.com page often, or have followed the career of Hilarie Burton, then you have heard her make mention, on numerous occasions, the book "Dandelion Wine" by Ray Bradbury. If this is a book that you havent had the pleasure of reading then I suggest that you do so because you will find that it is every bit as wonderful as Hilarie makes it out to be! I recently purchased another book by Mr. Bradury, which is actually a collection of 100 of his most celebrated shorts (as it says so in the subtitle).

The book includes an introduction written by the prolific author and in it he says this:

"It is hard for me to believe that in one lifetime I have written so many stories. But on the other hand I often wonder what other writers do with their time. Writing, for me, is akin to breathing. It is not something I plan or schedule; it's something I just do. All the stories collected in this book seized on me at the strangest hours, compelling me to head for my typewriter and put them down on paper before they went away."

Some of us are meant to be the writers, the painters, or the musicians of our time. Some of us will be called to war and others to hedge the way for peace. Some of us will tell stories from the big screen and others will do it from the classrooms to inspire eager young minds. When I first read those five sentences they stopped me and so I read them again, and then again and again. What Ray Bradbury discovered about writing is the passion that we all need to discover within ourselves. We were all born to do something. In Ray's case it was to write, to teach the world valuable life lessons through the written word. And he did so faithfully. But, what were you born to do? What, in this life, for you, will be akin to breathing?

Find that thing and then give it everything you have to offer, and if you are faithful to it, then your legacy will far out live you. And isnt that the point? Doing something that bridges generational gaps, creating something that everyone can relate to. Changing the world in such a way that your great great-grandchildren will be proud of.

I read Ray's words and found them encouraging. I hope that when you read them you receive some of that same encouragement.