The Midweek pick-me-up by The Marginalian had this - which I'm sharing here. Much more is in her article HERE Article is titled; How to Keep Life from Becoming a Parody of Itself: Simone de Beauvoir on the Art of Growing Older
"For old people,” Ursula K. Le Guin wrote in her sublime meditation on aging and what beauty really means, “beauty doesn’t come free with the hormones, the way it does for the young… It has to do with who the person is.” Another way to say this, to feel it, is that to become a person worthy of old age is the triumph of life. ... Grace Paley instructed in what remains the finest advice on the art of growing older: “The main thing is this — when you get up in the morning you must take your heart in your two hands. You must do this every morning.”
And...
Simone de Beauvoir said:
Growing, ripening, aging, dying — the passing of time is predestined, inevitable.
There is only one solution if old age is not to be an absurd parody of our former life, and that is to go on pursuing ends that give our existence a meaning — devotion to individuals, to groups or to causes, social, political, intellectual or creative work… In old age we should wish still to have passions strong enough to prevent us turning in on ourselves. One’s life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation, compassion.
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Did you notice that last line..."indignation?" In my own life I find many older people cherish that emotion to an absurd degree. I still try to avoid it.
...it is so dry here, if it rained I'd be out dancing in it.
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteI tend to read on the rainy days. Take care, enjoy your day!
We've been having stormy weather. Yesterday that included a tornado watch.
ReplyDeleteI should do other things, but we have been watching TV some!
ReplyDeleteBarbara, Outlander is my wife's favorite series! She won't miss one segment of it. I think that I'm jealous of Jaime. Take Care, Big Daddy Dave
ReplyDelete