Comments on: Salutation to the Dawn

By: paul sutton

paul sutton — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 01:38:07 +0000

i have a picture of a poem titled “mother dear” with trademark of buzza-crafteacres mlps u.s.a. on the bottom left. the picture shows a woman standing at a gate. i am not sure if she is dressed in a victorian or early american dress. it has foil at four corners of the picture. the frame is wooded and measures outside to outside of 5 1/2″ wide and 9 1/2″ high. can you help us determine the age of this picture? your help is greatly appreciated.

By: geoffrey beardall

geoffrey beardall — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 15:47:38 +0000

Steve,
I appreciate the distinction between goal-free and goal-less. I will shift toward “meandering with a purpose” and I will “take action and play full out” – I think that is great advice.

By: Pat Goddard

Pat Goddard — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 03:29:09 +0000

I also remember saying this poem every morning at CGIT camp in Saskatchewan– after a dip in the lake! This was in the mid-fifties.
It has stayed with me all my life.

By: Stephen Shapiro

Stephen Shapiro — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 17:44:54 +0000

Geoff,

Thank you for your comment.

Three points.

1. Being goal-free is not the same as being goal-less. I am not an advocate of goallessness. Being goal-free means having a sense of direction (call it vision if you want) and then meandering with purpose. Avoid targeting specific outcomes or creating detailed plans. Instead, be open to new possibilities. People who are LESS goal-driven are luckier â€“ studies prove this. The reason is that goal-free people have a more diverse set of experiences, which brings them more diverse opportunities. The key is to then â€œsense and respondâ€ to these opportunities.

2. The goal-free approach is not for everyone. If goals are truly giving you success and happiness, then stick with them. Your personality style will often dictate if traditional goal-setting is right for you. Regardless, I encourage you to be open to the goal-free approach. There is a lot to be learns about how to achieve your goals, with less effort. (see my blog entry on the Performance Paradox).

3. I wholeheartedly agree that “success” is not brought from some force outside our control. It is a result of our actions. However, we can not control our environment. It is exceptionally complex and driven by innumerable interactions and variables. Predicting the results of our actions is nearly impossible. As Dwight D Eisenhower is reputed to have said, “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable”.

Opportunity is everywhere. Although, I donâ€™t believe you can â€œengineerâ€ your way to success, you do need to take action and play full out.

By: Geoff Beardall

Geoff Beardall — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 17:14:47 +0000

I respectfully disagree that success or failure is brought to us by some force outside our control, that goal setters are trying to control the uncontrollable. Goals are about the bliss of growth and the glory of action. For most (all?) people happiness and self esteem are the result of making progress toward worthy goals. Goal setters are trying to live productive self directed lives. They are not content to sit back without a purpose and without dreams and see where life takes them. Uncontrollable events may change your goals, but they are not a reason to have no goals. I recite Salutation to the Dawn every morning. Isn’t goal setting a method of living today well so your vision of the future remains hopefull?

By: Betsy Heately

Betsy Heately — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 03:42:24 +0000

I too recited this at a church camp (CGIT) in the early 1960s, and was also told that it was Sanskrit. I recently met 2 women who were counsellors at the camp and they also remembered this. I’d remembered the second half of the poem (from “For today well lived….Look well, therefore, to this day!”) but not the beginning. It’s now hanging in my bathroom for me to see every morning – a good mantra indeed!

By: Billie Milholland

Billie Milholland — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 22:55:41 +0000

I when to summer church camp in the ’60s and rember reciting the ‘salutation to the dawn’ and I remember being told it was sanscrit, but in later life I could not find anyone who remembered this as i did. i am pleased to see that others had a similar experience. Now I know I did not just dream it.

By: Stephen Shapiro

Stephen Shapiro — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 02:27:04 +0000

Out of curiosity, I did a Google search and found the following. It is a cache of an eBay auction. http://tinyurl.com/s7c9j

FYI, here’s a bit about the company I found:

The Buzza Company: George Buzza founded the Buzza greeting card Company in 1907. The company started out by selling college advertising posters. When the market for these disappeared, he decided to manufacture greeting cards. After a slow start the company turned a corner in 1917 when sales hit $75,000. By 1927 sales reached $2.5 million. In 1928 it merged with the Charles S. Clark Company of New York City. In 1929 Buzza sold his interest in the company and retired to California. The Buzza Company continued in business until 1942 when its stockholders decided to liquidate it because of large business losses. Collection includes seven gift books, booklets (Greetings–Easter 1924; February 1928; February 1931), Christmas greeting brochures to dealers (1927 and 1941), office correspondence (January 1932-September 1942), financial statements for 1925, 1932, 1935, 1939, 1941, and 1943 to October 18, seven Christmas cards (1925-1930), biographical clippings on George Buzza, clippings on the company from the 1920s and 1930s, and a history of the company circa 1927. Included in separate areas are photos, both catalogued and uncatalogued; nine blueprints in Map Case 2, Drawer 4; the house organ The Bee-Hive in SCMC periodicals; a clipping file on the Buzza building filed in VF, and catalogued books First 100 Years (a book about Craftacres) (338.8 S11) and the 1927 book The Art of Entertaining, (793.0 W16.) SOURCE: http://www.mpls.lib.mn.us/sc_orgarchives.asp

By: Edith

Edith — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 00:36:31 +0000

My first email was mistyped! I have acquired an 8 1/2 by 4/12 sketched picture of an Indian brave by his canoe at the water’s edge. On this picture is the poem Look to this day- On the back is a label “The Buzza Company Craftacres MPLS. U.S.A. Does anyone have an idea as to who would have done the art work or where it might have come from. It looks to be old.

By: Edith

Edith — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 00:31:45 +0000

I just acquired a framed picture 8 1/2 X4 1/2 inches. It pictures an Indian brave standing by his canoe at the edge of a lake. It looks to be sketches and the poem Look to This Day is inscribed on it. The poem starts with: For Yesterday…… Does anyone have a clue who might have drawn this picture? On the back there is a label. “The Buzza Company Craftacres MPLS. U.S.A.