What a glorious morning, eh? For Patriots fans that is. For Eagles fans, well, not so good. Two trips to the Super Bowl in three years, three trips in eight years. One of the four best defenses ever, and if they win in two weeks (making it 15 games in a row) they'll be regarded as one of the best NFL teams ever.

On another note, I've never been one to appreciate the need or appeal of motivational speakers or sayings. Some people need it, I suppose, but I've never needed someone to explain to me that work gets you closer to goals, that you need goals, that failure is necessary, etc. Not only are those things trite, they seem completely obvious and rather silly to point out. Yet everywhere there are little "buck-up, you-can-do-it" signs, quotes, and "human interest" stories (which annoy the hell out of me -- are there such things as stories that are not of "human interest?"). Well, Louis Bayard says it all for me in the Post. They are founded on the faith that our dreary existences can, with a well-timed nudge, be made worthy of even the most rigorous high-school-reunion inspection. But ask yourself. Is your life richer for Scandinavian sayings and the truisms of steel magnates or the tossed-off crumbs of Victorian essayists? Are we now a better people? Why haven't all the millions of desk calendars and motivational brochures and Successories posters eliminated poverty, racism, war, Paris Hilton? Why isn't each and every one of us leaving big honking footprints in the sands of time?

Could it be that, despite all the unsolicited inspiration we're getting from every side, some fundamental part of us remains . . . unimprovable?

Perhaps, instead of the MQs (motivational quotes, as Bayard calls them) we should have DORQs (Dose of Reality quotes) from the Book of Ecclesiastes posted on doors and desks:

One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.

Would people stop striving and mope, or just understand the context of striving and battle on?