Shakespeare as reminder

Of some several poems running word for word in my mind, Shakespeare's Sonnet 121, very old I know, carries much weight. I've commited it to memory and have found a comfort in resighting, even muttering it, to myself.

'Tis better to be vile than vile esteemed,

When not to be receives reproach of being,

And the just pleasure lost which is so deemed

Not by our feeling but by others' seeing.

For why should others' false adulterate eyes

Give salutation to my sportive blood?

Or on my frailties why are frailer spies,

Which in their wills count bad what I think good?

No, I am that I am, and they that level

At my abuses reckon up their own;

I may be straight, though they themselves be bevel.

By their rank thoughts my deeds must not be shown,

Unless this general evil they maintain:

All men are bad, and in their badness reign.

If you choose to write about a poem like this, I was advised to write the poem in your own words; listen to the words, so read it outloud; then, consider the message you believe it is trying to convey. Don't take words for granted. Shakespeare was a master with diction, so look words up, consider their meanings and return to the poem asking what he meant.

I memorize the poem in hopes to generate a reminder of what value I have of being human, what consequences my actions hold, the measure of responsibilty my actions generate and the subtle politics, regarding varying degrees of 'badness' we succumb to, existing in the social arena.