Philip Roth
How
well said. This getting older is a
process and I know it began the moment we were born and that should be
comforting, but it isn’t. Just because
you were born into a process doesn’t mean you were automatically given the
skills to cope with it. It’s a bit like
someone throwing you into a river and telling you to swim, you might be lucky
and have enough visceral and body fat to keep afloat (I suspect, I would float
quite high in the water, myself!) ,but unless someone had taught you to swim,
you are not going to learn in the next few minutes of your life, are you? So what are the life skills that you need to
sustain this massacre. Well here is my
list
1.
a
sense of humour because if you cannot laugh at yourself you are going to be
very tired of others doing it for you
2.
don’t
assume old age makes you smell less – the opposite is true. As we get older we are like orange juice concentrate
and we become stronger, thicker and less dilute. This applies to all our attributes, so if we are slightly
sarcastic in our twenties, we will be bitingly bitter in our thirties and
really rancid in our forties. Some
personal progress on a daily basis is not a nicety, it is a necessity.
3.
most
things you see around you are a distortion of the human spirit not its
essential nature. The good news is that
people are much nicer than we think and this applies to you too.
4.
It’s
a good idea to look around you and feel that you are surrounded by spiritual
giants, it will compensate for the fact that you, probably like me, are from
the pigmy tribe of spirituality. Don’t
think of this as a negative, the humble posture of learning this engenders will
help you grow.
5.
Everything
you have and everything you own will eventually be taken away from you, it’s a
fact, face it. Now, spend your precious
remaining time on what cannot be taken away from you, your service to
humanity. If you don’t know what that
means, find out and fast!
6.
Be
conscious of the fragrances around you, jasmine brought to you on the night
air, rose’s wafting across the garden and those human scents of cooperation,
concord and love. Surround yourself
with such things until they become part of you. It will help you smell less in old age!
Sometimes when we are being massacred something
beautiful happens, that takes ones breath away. Dr. James Simon, born in Berlin on 29th September 1880, was
a solidly-trained composer, pianist and musicologist. In late March or early
April, 1944, Simon was one of a thousand inmates deported to Terezin, a
Nazi camp.
Simon quickly entered into the musical life of the
ghetto. On July 9, 1944, he set Psalm
126 for Karel Fischer’s Durra-Chor, which was performed seven times in Terezin
between July and October.
From
Psalm 126
"Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
The Lord has done great things for them.
The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy."
On October 12 he boarded the transport to Auschwitz
and died in a gas chamber shortly after his arrival.
He wrote on a dedication sheet to a friend,
‘Do
righteous deeds and throw them into the sea.’ – Arab proverb
I hope you, like me, have caught a fragrance of this
sweet soul and feel the benefit of knowing such flowers existed.
It's a pity I can't smell Very good!!
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