Sine Qua Non
by (sin`i`kwa`non)
"An essential element or condition"
I live across the street from an elderly couple. When I arrived home from service on Wednesday afternoon, there was a lot of commotion at their house, along with many, many unfamiliar cars. My stepmother informed me that the wife had passed away the night before, and the cars belonged to the now widower’s familial comforters. I asked my stepmother if she’d spoken to him at all, and she informed me that she’d tried to comfort him, tried to calm him down, but it seemed like he was unable to stop crying. “She was my life,” he said.
How often do we recognize the people or things that we couldn’t live without? More importantly, do we treat that person or thing that way, making them fully realize that they are "sine qua non" to us? Perhaps the position some people hold to us has grown slowly, as:
“What was once to me mere matter of the fancy, now has grown the vast necessity of heart and life.” -Tennyson
With those thoughts in mind, what or who couldn’t you live without?
AI Summary
44 Comments
techinically you could live with out any possessions but you always need a family, so i guess my immediate family would be my answer. Whats the point of having anything if you don't have someone to share it with.
JEHOVAH, bar none
After having lost "everything" some months ago, the only people there for me was Jehovah and His organization... THEY are the ones I cannot live without...
birds, bar one and two
especially the ones you can eat!
you eat birds?
would you like it if i ate you.
why not? nut isn't cannibalism a sin?
I know..that without everyone and anything but Jehovah I could live..or I would like to think I could..but function is a different story. I don't think I'd function very well without Ben, and then if I didn't have him I would need my friends more then ever (though without them and only him wouldn't be cool either). I remember when my friends grandpa died and they had been married for over 50 years (no not my friend and his grandpa) and she was devestated for so long..he was her other half, he completed her.
I was talking to a friend about this the other night...You'd be okay without your b/f or g/f, but why be just okay when you can be WONDERFUL?
that's a very good point. I can be okay all by myself, but if I had a choice between okay and wonderful..hmm I just don't know which I'd choose
the thing is that there are many things to make you happy, but if you were in a situation in which everyhting was stripped of you, and i mean everything, and you're locked in a small dark room, or floating in the empty abyss of space, what one thing would you need to continue to exist? Or, the question could mean just in your everyday life, what's most important to you? At that question we begin to realize that there are many things that we hold dear to us. We realize how precious everything we have is, and each and every treasured thing to us is sine qua non
thatdarngirl and i were talking about this the other day and we decided that people only need little things to make them happy. no matter how much we need and love certain people, nothing can beat some stuff. I can be ready to shoot the next person who talks to me, but if someone hands me a balloon, it cheers me up so much. maybe its just me but balloons get me in a good mood. i lectured someone on this the other day and they looked at me like i was odd. you can't fix every problem but you have to learn to cope. i will be a fifty year old woman with a balloon one day.
and M&Ms..you can't forget M&M's. My one friend at school suffers from depression a lot and he just watches me and can't understand why I am so blissfully happy when I eat M&Ms for lunch. The thing is you have to let them make you happy, or they won't.
ooh.. thats me and milkshakes.. just give me a milkshake and the world is just a better place.. mmmm mmmmmm mmmmm.. milkshakes
hahaha! you could open a store- mike's milkshakes.
hahaha! or not.
haha, names have been changed to protect the innocent, huh di? lol, j/k.
but seriously...I wouldnt be able to live without my friends. I love each and everyone one of them differently, so it would be hard to be without even one of them.
Mike is my best friend in romantic love, one who I can say anything to and one I know (hope - hehe) would come to my rescue. Di is my best friend and would come to my rescue to, and I can tell her all about Mike (hehe, it's ok supastar). Jonathan is a friend that I know even if we had a huge fight or if he moved away and we didnt see each other for 10 years, we would always still be happy to see each other. And everyone else makes life interesting in their own way. I can't part with any!
I couldnt live without my mummy! :o) I neeeeed her
mmm, I love this quote. I'm feeling this right now as my lovely girlfriend is in Cali for 10 days.....
my amateur Latin skills (mainly from studying spanish and italian, haha) make me think that "sine qua non" means "without which there is nothing" or something like that. just a guess. but it sounds good as well.
dude, you've got a girlfriend? who is she?
its a nice blow up doll named juanita ;)
Nah, thats YOUR doll dude
Next time the Witnesses come to your door, please listen to what they say and accept a Bible study with them, apply what your are taught and become one of us.
grow a sense of humour and become part of the human population
I'm not going to banter with a child... You may think I need to grow a sense of humor but I think you need to grow up and join Jehovah's population...
thanks for your opinion but i don't believe it's the deciding one
Boys, I didn't write the article to start fights. You're both cool, play nice.
Hey magnum I'll be the one to tell you that Dave Elliot has the imagination of a 12 year old. A guy like that has a very good sense of humor.
Thanks, Dan... I think...
I got nothing but love for you man. Brotherly love that is.
Diana, I think magnum and I worked out or "problem" like adults... everyone's friends!
"we can handle this like the mature adults we are. isn't that right mr. poopy pants!?"
name the movie!
a adam sandler movie
wrong answer! any other guesses?
the naked gun?
ding ding ding!! the naked gun is the correct answer! actually i think it is from "the naked gun: 2 1/2"
The Latin translates roughly to: "Without who, what or which, nothing is." Great skills, Dean. (dictionary.com has the full translation)
I used to think that nobody affected me in that way, that i was invicible to feeling sad if somone left me... Well, that was not the case AT all... but i found it out the hard way. People have a greater affect on me then i thought. I really care about everyone in the congregation, and all the brothers and sisters around the world. Most of all are my friends and family.... and katie. All my close friends have always been there for me along with my family, even if they have been anoyying at times. Katie, katie has helped me out soooo much, changed me for the better SOO much, its awesome!(dont worry, im still the little punk that everyone knows and hates) But.. i wouldnt be much without those people around me
i think you are a big fat punk, not a little punk.
dont hate on me, just cause i can run you over like a train
yea but without chicken can anyone survive ? i mean general tso's knows what he's doing.