The Duty of the Octogenarian

 As one reaches my age, there is a sense of responsibility to be diligent in passing along hard-learned lessons in living. We see our grandchildren and their friends beginning to make the decisions that will determine the course of their lives, and we want to help them avoid setting living/thinking patterns that will lead to dissatisfaction, and unhappiness in their personal lives. We want them to see the value that their personal choices have in the continuation of a prosperous and functioning culture. Also, we are aware that many (most?) twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings have been taught by society that all opinions and ideas are equally valuable, and they don't need to listen to anybody else's input in their decision-making (a catastrophically erroneous idea).

For those willing at attend to a few life-experience opinions and recommendations, I offer these:

1. From your early days of marriage, set a pattern of real sharing with your partner. Be sure that you discuss more than just what's for dinner and who's going to mow the lawn. If you want your marriage to endure and thrive into your old age, you must KNOW this person you married. I regret that, in the hugeness of child-bearing, child-raising, and career-building, we had few discussions about what we read, what we heard in worship service, what direction we hoped to see our country move, and many other topics that would have given us insight to our partner's thinking.

2. Read regularly.

• When you read fiction, read at least some REALISTIC fiction (as opposed to all horror, fantasy, sci-fi, or the adrenaline-inducing "action" or "erotic" novels) The reason for this recommendation is that in realistic fiction we see real people facing real problems (like some you might face) and making difficult decisions. You have the opportunity to witness and evaluate the consequences of various life decisions as you read the denouement of the story. How often in real like could you have the opportunity to see, ahead of your own experience, what the long-term complications of a decision might be?
• When you read non-fiction, read about people or subjects that will give you something to admire, strive for, learn that will contribute to the success/happiness/productivity of your own life.

3. Remind yourself regularly that the only way to improved society is to improve individuals. When you live a clean, admirable, productive, and influencial life, you are doing your part to build a good society for future generations. You have little control over how other people live their lives.

4. Recognize that old proverbs, "sayings" "folk wisdom", etc. are actually good and helpful to remember and consider. They endured through generations because people through generations recognized their truth. Some of these include famous bible verses, quotes from great thinkers of the past, such as C.S. Lewis, Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Abraham Lincoln, and many others.

5. I will add to this as I think of things that I consider really important.

Three Little Lies by Danielle Stewart - a Netgalley Review

Three Little Lies is a very engrossing read from the very beginning! There is no time lost getting into the story; the author grabbed the reader right at the start. The characters are fully drawn and very engaging, the story line is easy to follow and clearly presented. The book continues at a lively pace throughout, with each new development in the story increasing the suspense and building the reader's engagement with the characters and their dilemma. There are unexpected twists in the story right up until the very end. I must say that the ending doesn't follow logic and was very disappointing to me as a reader, seeming somewhat contrived and agenda-driven instead of following the tone set by the rest of the novel. Still, overall, I enjoyed getting acquainted with these characters and seeing their story unfold.  

Reading in 2022

 Since I started keeping track of the books I read on Goodreads in 2009, I have read and recorded 3,469 books. My reading-est year was 2015 when I read 300! In 10 of those years I read more than 200 books. This year is the smallest number I've read since I began keeping track. I finished the year yesterday with 141 (My lowest year had been 2009 with 165.) After my retinal stroke in April, I hardly read at all for several months due to eye strain and had to cut way back on my walking (while listening to audiobooks) as well; so that cut into my totals a lot. The 13 books I read in 2022 that I rated 5-star were authored by Andrew Klavan, Lisa Unger, Lisa Wingate, Sean Dietrich, Francine Rivers, Kristina McMorris, Ana Johns, Jeanine Cummins, Dean Koontz, Lisa Scottoline, and Nicholas Sparks. Only one of these was non-fiction.

Here are a few I've rated 5-star: The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer; Chasing Fireflies by Charles Martin; Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers; The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer; The Shack by William Paul Young; Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos; Peace Like a River by Leif Enger; Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand; Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate; The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah; I'll Be Your Blue Sky by Marisa de los Santos; Sold on a Monday by Kristina McMorris; The Woman in the White Kimono by Ana Johns; American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins; The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate; the Incredible Winston Browne by Sean Dietrich; The Perfect Daughter by D.J. Palmer; My Wife is Missing by D.J. Palmer; The Truth and Beauty by Andrew Klavan.

Autumn Trees

 As I admired the glowing-yellow ghinko trees on Broad Street in Rome over the past weekend, a strange thing happened. 

My mind focused on a couple of little three-word phrases that had apparently slept in my mind for years and suddenly awakened at the sight of the brilliant trees. "A solitary maple" kept playing silently in my head.

 "What!? Crazy Lady, that is not a maple. That is a ghinko!" my rational mind scoffed. 

"But it's dressed for the ball" my subconscious mind insisted.  

The phrases kept playing hopscotch, leaping over each other constantly as I went about my tasks

"solitary maple, dressed for the ball..."

I realized that the words were from some long-ago read literature. So, being the me that I am, I took out my laptop when I got home and began to research.(I have found as I've aged that I am becoming more me every day that I live. I am becoming so "me" somedays it's frightening!) And, thanks to DuckDuckGo, I found the source of the voice in my head. 

Apparently at some time in my school years I had read or studied Henry James's writing. DuckDuckGo showed me the quote that was stuck in my head, but life intruded before I found the longer work from which the quote comes. 

"A solitary maple on a woodside flames in single scarlet, recalls nothing so much as the daughter of a noble house dressed for a fancy ball, with the whole family gathered around to admire her before she goes."

Several observations:

1. A classical education, including good literature, is a gift that lasts a lifetime; so children need to read good literature in school instead of (or at least in addition to) the shallow witch/dragon/wizard/babysitter/amateur sleuth stuff around which much reading curriculum of our day is clustered. They need to store words of LIFE in their heads - appreciation of nature and nature's God. 
2. A watered-down general vocabulary leads to a watered-down mundane life. See, think, live, speak in specifics. 
3. I am grateful for the words that other thinkers through the years have passed down to us. 
4. The fear (wonder, amazement) of God is the beginning of wisdom. (Proverbs 9:10) Young people need to be shown the majesty of God's creation and encouraged to absorb and appreciate it. 

Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports by James Patterson

3 of 5 stars
As a retired Middle School Language Arts teacher, I occasionally read adolescent literature to suggest appropriate and desirable books to those who ask. I chose this book because of its authorship although the blurb was not appealing to me. Clearly the Maximum Ride books would be better understood and enjoyed if read in correct sequence. Since this is the only one of the series I read, I found myself having to deduce previous events in order to understand the current ones experienced by the characters in this book. I think that many adolescents would enjoy the science fiction nature of the book; I, on the other hand, enjoyed more the elements of realistic fiction that were mixed in. The lessons to be learned from the relationships between the characters -- their positive and negative interactions - the exhibited behaviors and consequences - their methods of reconciliation - all these experiences are good life lessons and provide good reasons for adolescents to read this series of books.

Climbing Life's Stairway

My students' last assignment of the year - finished just Wednesday - was to present a short motivational poem or speech to the class. I demonstrated the desired speaking skills by presenting Langston Hushes's "Mother to Son" followed by a related valedictory message stolen from my Brother's blog. http://aloneonalimb.blogspot.com/2007/03/ptsw-crystal-stair.html. The students made great choices for their presentations: During the last week of school we heard MLK's "I Have a Dream," "Patrick Henry's "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death," Rudyard Kipling's "If," and Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address." We heard Steve Jobs's graduation address to Stanford in 2004 - "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish" and Susan B. Anthony's "Woman's Right to the Suffrage."

We heard parts of Jesus's Sermon on the Mount, Churchill's "Blood, Sweat, Toil and Tears" address, Douglas McArthur's Acceptance Speech for the Thayer Award at West Point - "Duty. Honor. Country," and Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture." We also heard more recent poetry and lesser-known speeches. One that I found particularly thought-provoking was a speech entitled "Life by Default; Life be Design?" by Usiere Uko. A few students wrote their own poetry and presented it - mostly on the topics of friendship and ecological responsibility.

I found it inspiring at the end of another school year, as we mark accomplishment and milestones in life, to hear some wisdom from the ages. I hope the students started their summer vacation period with something worthwhile to think about.

Addendum:
Other selections, you might like to find and read (or re-read):
"The Butterfly" by Nikos Kazantzakis
"Six Simple Strategies for Achieving Misery" by Sol Herzig
"I Wish You Enough" by Bob Parks
"Take Care of Your Friends" by Baxter Black, the Cowboy Poet

Thursday Thirteen - Edition 51 for me - Imagery in Shakespeare's Writing

Thirteen word images, originally created by William Shakespeare, that have become common expressions

1... "The quality of mercy is not strain'd. /It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven/Upon the place beneath./It is twice blest:/It blesseth him that gives and him that takes." --From Merchant of Venice (IV, I, (184-186)

2...."What a piece of work is man! --From Hamlet (II, ii, 115-117)

3...."Good night, good night! /Parting is such sweet sorrow." -- From Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 185)

4...."What's in a name? /That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet."
--From Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

5...."My words fly up, my thoughts remain below:/ Words without thoughts never to heaven go." --From Hamlet (III, iii, 100-103)

6...."Why, then the world's mine oyster,/ Which I with sword will open." --From The Merry Wives of Windsor (II, ii, 2-3)

7...."If music be the food of love, play on/;Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,/The appetite may sicken, and so die." --From Twelfth Night (I, i,1-3)

8...."Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't." --From Hamlet (II, ii, 206) (method in the madness)

9...."Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em." --From Twelfth Night (II, v, 156-159)

10...."And thus I clothe my naked villany/ With odd old ends stol'n out of holy writ,/ And seem a saint, when most I play the devil." --From King Richard III (I, iii, 336-338)

11...."Lord, what fools these mortals be!" --From A Midsummer Night's Dream (III, ii, 115)

12.... "This above all: to thine own self be true". - - From Hamlet (Act I, Scene III)

13...."The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on". -- (From King Henry IV, Part III
Act II, Scene II).

General Knowledge Quiz

I found this site and made up a quiz of general knowledge. I guess I could call this something like "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?". Click on the link below and take my quiz, and let me know what you think.

http://www.quizyourfriends.com/quizpage.php?quizname=070428200042-156959&

Cultural Literacy and the Bible - part 4

Since a few months ago, when I wrote four articles on the topic of cultural literacy's dependence upon some Biblical knowledge, I have continued to be aware of regular references to incidents or stories in the Bible as used in public speech and writing. I wonder how children growing up today with no contact with the church can understand the implications of references in what they hear and read.

Kids who grow up with no Bible knowledge cannot understand much of classic literature --which is filled with references such as: someone having the "patience of Job" or a situation being described as "a lion's den". They have no idea what it means to "cast your bread upon the waters" or what being "my brother's keeper" implies. They don't understand references to "the burning bush" or "the coat of many colors" or numerous other Bible-based cultural references in literature.

In addition, famous speeches of the past often drew attention to current political or societal struggles by using terminology from the Bible that was thoroughly understood and symbolic to their listeners. Many of today's listeners wouldn't understand a reference to "the handwriting on the wall" or "going the extra mile" or many other phrases that we take for granted since we have a background in Biblical understanding.

Here are some references I have noticed in my reading and listening in the last few months. In order to understand these references, one would need to understand.....

1. What advantage does a "city set on a hill" enjoy?

2. What is the "beginning of wisdom"?

3. What is the "root of all evil"?

4. What is "the fall of man"?

5. What is the meaning of "facing a Goliath" or "facing a giant"?

6. What is you opinion of a person if you believe that he/she "can walk on water"?

7. Who was this "Solomon" who was so wise that people talk about a person having the wisdom of Solomon?

8. Why is a loose woman referred to as a "Jezabel"?

9. What is a "coat of many colors"?

10. If someone is "just a Philistine", what does that mean?

Here are my previous articles on this subject.

http://daddysroses.blogspot.com/2006/04/cultural-literacy-and-bible-part-1.html

http://daddysroses.blogspot.com/2006/04/cultural-literacy-and-bible-part-2.html

http://daddysroses.blogspot.com/2006/04/cultural-literacy-and-bible-part-3.html

http://daddysroses.blogspot.com/2006/04/cultural-literacy-sidenote.html