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<< < Page 2 of 4 >
The Blessings of Age
The Blessings of Age
An essay by Barbara Rohde

One hears so much about the calamities of growing old that at sixty I began to make a list of the things that I like about my advancing years. My younger friends suggested that I was merely playing Pollyana. My old friends gently pointed out that my list might grow shorter as my life grows longer. Still, I made my list.

At the head of my list was this remarkable discovery: I was beginning to find the foibles of my friends and relatives endearing.

I could understand how, after observing the real tragedies of life for two-thirds of a century, one would become more tolerant of minor irritations. In a world filled with the suffering of the hungry and the homeless and the victims of violence, the cap left off the toothpaste tube does not loom very large.

But my fondness for these foibles came as a surprise to me. I suppose I finally have come to understand that when one loves, one loves the whole person, a person defined by foibles as well as strengths. Of course, there is still the flash of irritation, but these days when we say, “Isn’t that just like him,” more often than not, we say it with affection, with the same pleasure of recognition as when the letter in the mailbox is addressed in familiar handwriting.

Perhaps every long marriage follows these five stages:
  1. Darling, you are perfect.
  2. Good grief! You seem to have a few foibles.
  3. Let me help you get rid of your foibles so you will indeed be perfect.
  4. Okay, I love you in spite of your foibles.
  5. I can’t believe this has happened. I sometimes love you because of your foibles.
I recently made the wonderful discovery that “foible” originally meant the weak part of a sword, from he center to the tip, while “forte” referred to the sword’s stronger part. That says something to me about accepting our weaknesses while holding on to our strengths. Who would want to go out to meet a dragon with only half a sword?
In the Simple Morning Light -- Google Book
Tags: Quote of the Day, Posted by Nathan Krämer on 4/3/2011
Five Simple Rules for Happiness:
1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.
Tags: Quote of the Day, Posted by Nathan Krämer on 3/9/2011
Quote of the Day
"To Build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day." -- Winston Churchill
Tags: Quote of the Day, Posted by Nathan Krämer on 3/9/2011
Imagine by John Lennon
<i>Imagine</i> by John Lennon
Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
Tags: Quote of the Day, Posted by Nathan Krämer on 3/7/2011
A Quote from Dr. King
A Quote from Dr. King
It's a hard, it's a tedious job at times to get people to be aroused from their apathetic slumbers. -MLK Jr.
Tags: Quote of the Day, Posted by Nathan Krämer on 3/3/2011
Drunkenness & Prohibition
I would like to see drunkenness and prohibition both abolished.
from Robert Green Ingersoll – “What I Want For Christmas” (1897)
Tags: Quote of the Day, Posted by Nathan Krämer on 2/23/2011
Trouble with internet quotes
Trouble with internet quotes
Tags: Quote of the Day, Posted by Nathan Krämer on 2/3/2011
Compassion
Compassion
It is my fundamental conviction that compassion—the natural capacity of the human heart to feel concern for and connection with another being—constitutes a basic aspect of our nature shared by all human beings, as well as being the foundation of our happiness. --Dalai Lama
Tags: Quote of the Day, Posted by Nathan Krämer on 1/27/2011
The Limits of Tyrants
The Limits of Tyrants
The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.
-- Frederick Douglass
Tags: Quote of the Day, Posted by Nathan Krämer on 1/19/2011
A Quote from Robert Kennedy
A Quote from Robert Kennedy
Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the life of others, or strikes out against injustice, it sends a tiny ripple of hope, and those ripples, crossing each other from a million different centers of energy, build up a current, which can sweep down the mightiest wall of oppression and resistance.
Tags: Quote of the Day, Posted by Nathan Krämer on 12/7/2010

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