The Mad Farmer......................

       Prayers and Sayings of the Mad Farmer

                        I
It is presumptuous and irresponsible to pray for other people.  A good man would pray only for himself - that he have as much good as he deserves, that he not receive more good or more evil than he deserves, that he bother nobody, that he not be bothered, that he want less.  Praying thus for himself, he should prepare to live with the consequences.

                      II
          At night make me one with the darkness.
          In the morning make me one with the light.

                    III
If a man finds it necessary to eat garbage, he should resist the temptation to call it a delicacy.

                    IV
          Don't pray for the rain to stop.
          Pray for good luck fishing
          when the river floods.

                    V
Don't own so much clutter that you will be relieved to see your house catch fire.

                    VI
Beware of the machinery of longevity.  When a man's life is over the decent thing is for him to die.  The  forest does not withhold itself from death.  What it gives up it takes back.

-Wendell Berry