Wisdom of the Ages

Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and the wrong. Sometime in your life you will have been all of these.
Dr. Robert H. Goddard
American rocket engineer 1882-1945

I have found my mirror to compassion for self through my children. I have watched them grow to the age of 40 something and I still see how much they have to do to learn and grow. I watch their mistakes and remember my own. And I discover forgiveness. Forgiveness for them, but selfishly forgiveness for me as I realize that I walked along the path and made similar mistakes and sometimes worse mistakes. My children give me a clearer vision of me.


I have found my mirror to compassion for self through my mother. She watched me grow old and she still accepted my folly and my mistakes and I knew that I was loved and accepted. I hope that this is a gift that I have inherited when I look at my sons, friends and family. My mother gave me a clearer vision of me and who I could become.


As I grow older I realize how many people unintentionally were my teachers. From those who were often the cruelest or worse, I learned to be kinder. From those who could not take care of themselves, I learned to forgive me when I struggled and failed and was able to stand up again and move forward. From those who loved me when I was my most unlovable, I have learned to love me also. From those who hurt me, I learned not to hurt others at least intentionally. For those who have helped me and expected nothing in return, I learned to give without expectation of being paid back.


From when I would get angry and want to strike back, I learned that revenge has no great sense of satisfaction only a sense of my own weakness. I have learned that I do not have to seek revenge and to leave it to time and the universe.


I have learned that at least 90 percent of people are good, and I don’t have time to foster paranoia about the other 10 percent so I find it more fulfilling to risk receiving a positive relationship and to take time to heal myself if I am hurt by one of the minority.
And while I am learning to accept being 62, all of a sudden I am excited by what I am going to experience and learn next. For that gift, most of all, I thank my mother and my sister Glenna.

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