My cousin [actually it is my first cousin once removed......I figured out how

to do all that on a Google search once when I was trying to figure out how to classify cousins.

Man do I love the Internet and how easy it is to research the most random topics]......

Anyway, the quote below was posted on my Cousin Beth's CaringBridge website.

She was going through some clippings and it is from Nelson Mandela's 1994 inauguration address. The quote moved her greatly now [and I know when she first found it, as that is why it is in her clippings....and something I realized that I share with her, as I have clipped and saved things my whole life...so it must be a genetic thing!].

My Cousin Beth is a bright light...she has a smile that is dazzling and a personality that is just as radiant. So, I wanted to share her post with you all here.....as she asked that we read the passage ~ "this truly explains how I feel today. There is such a natural "high" in it that I want you all to hop aboard" and then I added my own piece to the post.....a photograph of my little light to share with you all.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear
is
that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness
that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves,
who am I
to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We were born
to make manifest
the glory of God that is within us.
It’s not just in some of us;
it’s in everyone.
And as we let our light shine,
we unconsciously
give other people
permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fears,
our presence
automatically liberates others."