Hermann Hesse

From Gertrude (pgs 132-133)

"Something Muoth had once said occurred to me and I repeated it to my father. Muoth had said, not really in earnest, that he found that most old people were much more serene and contented than young people. My father laughed at that and said thoughtfully: "Naturally we old people say just the opposite, but there is some truth in what your friend said. I think one can draw quite a distinct division between youth and maturity. Youth ends when egotism does; maturity begins when one lives for others. That is what I mean. Young people have many pleasures and many sorrows, because they have only themselves to think of, so every wish and every notion assumes importance; every pleasure is tasted to the full but also every sorrow, and many who find that their wishes cannot be fulfilled, put an end immediately to their lives. That is being young. To most people, however, there comes a time when the situation changes, when they live more for others, not for any virtuous reasons, but quite naturally. A family is the reason with most people. One thinks less about oneself and one's wishes when one has a family. Others lose their egotism in a responsible position, in politics, in art or in science. Young people want to play; mature people want to work. A man does not marry just to have children, but if he has them they change him, and finally he sees that everything has happened just for them. That links up with the fact that young people like to talk about death but do not really think about it. It is just the other way round with old people. Life seems long to young people and they can therefore concentrate all their wishes and thoughts on themselves. Old people are conscious of an approaching end, and that everything one has and does solely for oneself finally falls short and lacks value. Therefore a man requires a different kind of continuity and faith; he does not work just for the worms. That is why one has a wife and children, business and responsibility, so that one knows for whom one endures the daily toil. In that respect your friend is quite right, a man is happier when he lives for others than when he lives just for himself, but old people should not make it out to be such an act of heroism, because it isn't one rally. In any case, the most lively young people become the best old people, not those who pretend to be as wise as grandfathers while they are still at school. "

aware of my need

A lot of people have some kind of cold or virus right now. Among the many afflictions which have come to my attention are my mom's head cold and my grandma's cough. Mom is staying at Grandma's this week so they went shopping together and apparently stocked up on medicines. I went to visit and to have dinner with them after work. They noticed my coughing and sneezing right away.

Grandma told me to take a bottle of cough syrup home.
"Don't you need it?" I asked.
"I bought one for myself today and it was on sale for 'buy one get one free.'" Grandma said. So I acquired a much needed bottle of cough syrup.

Later on Mom asked me if I was taking Echinacea to fight the cold.
"I only have Echinacea tea." I said (which is not the most potent way to get it into your system). Mom went away and came back with a bottle of Echinacea. "Aren't you using this?" I asked her.
"I bought two bottles today for 'buy one get one free.'" She gave me her second bottle.

Before I left Grandma's house I had also been outfitted with AlkaSeltzer, cough drops, Chinese food, and clear soda.

All of this is in addition to a batch of scrumptious homemade chicken soup a friend made me, which has sustained me for a number of days.

I have been well taken care of. Truly "the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance." (1 Nephi 1:20) I don't feel very mighty, but through the love and service of those around me I feel delivered. I know that Father is aware of my every need.

Mahalia Jackson

"It is easy to be independent when you've got money.
But to be independent when you haven't got a thing -
that's the Lord's test"
-Mahalia Jackson

Comte de Bussy-Rabutin

"Absence is to love what wind is to fire;
It extinguishes the small, it enkindles the great. "
-Comte de Bussy Rabutin

kersina quote

from: kersina.blogspot.com
"life is a work in progress. stay tuned."
--kersina
little by little; inch by inch