The Way I See It - Senility Prayer
The Way I See It
By: Doug Dickerson/Staff Writer
09/20/2006
When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not.
- Mark Twain
As I was driving home the other day I was reminded of something a friend once told me about getting old. I had been complaining about my back aching, my head hurting, moving a bit slower these days, you know - just the general aches and pains of aging. "Just wait, you have so much to look forward to," she said.
I accept the inevitability of aging. I think it certainly has its advantages over the alternative. Far from being "old" by any stretch, I am at the age now that I used to think was "ancient" when I was a kid. Yet, life among the ancient is not so bad and I have no desire to return to the days of believing otherwise.
Speaking of old, I was reading some amusing epitaphs the other day. No, I was not trying to get any ideas, but I certainly found them to be thought provoking. These are actual epitaphs:
In a Ribbesford, England, cemetery: Anna Wallace: The children of Israel wanted bread. And the Lord sent them manna. Old clerk Wallace wanted a wife, and the Devil sent him Anna.
Memory of an accident in a Uniontown, Pennsylvania, cemetery: Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake: Stepped on the gas instead of the brake.
In a cemetery in Hartscombe, England: On the 22nd of June - Jonathan Fiddle - Went out of tune.
In a Georgia cemetery: "I told you I was sick!"
In a Thurmont, Maryland, cemetery: Here lies an Atheist All dressed up And no place to go.
On a grave from the 1880s in Nantucket, Massachusetts: Under the sod and under the trees Lies the body of Jonathan Pease. He is not here, there's only the pod: Pease shelled out and went to God.
On Margaret Daniel's grave at Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia: She always said her feet were killing her but nobody believed her.
In a Silver City, Nevada, cemetery: Here lays Butch. We planted him raw. He was quick on the trigger, But slow on the draw.
Oops! Harry Edsel Smith of Albany, New York: Born 1903-Died 1942: Looked up the elevator shaft to see if the car was on the way down. It was.
The way we look at and accept the aging process is marked by the way in which we define it. I read once where you become 21, you turn 30, you're pushing 40, you reach 50, you make it to 60. Then you build up so much speed that you hit 70. After that, it's a day by day thing, you hit Wednesday.
Accepting the natural aging process is quite different from conceding to being old. In spite of having aches and pains, I still try not to be one and put up with those who are. It's been said that changing one's attitude is key to turning the corner on such issues. You know the old expression that it's just mind over matter. However, from my vantage point it appears to be more matter than mind.
As far as aging and mental faculties are concerned, I know there were a few things I wanted to address, but for the life of me, I just can't recall what they were. So I will close with The Senility Prayer - please join me as together we pray: "God grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, The good fortune to run into the ones I do, And the eyesight to tell the difference."
Amen!
©Summerville Journal-Scene 2006
By: Doug Dickerson/Staff Writer
09/20/2006
When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not.
- Mark Twain
As I was driving home the other day I was reminded of something a friend once told me about getting old. I had been complaining about my back aching, my head hurting, moving a bit slower these days, you know - just the general aches and pains of aging. "Just wait, you have so much to look forward to," she said.
I accept the inevitability of aging. I think it certainly has its advantages over the alternative. Far from being "old" by any stretch, I am at the age now that I used to think was "ancient" when I was a kid. Yet, life among the ancient is not so bad and I have no desire to return to the days of believing otherwise.
Speaking of old, I was reading some amusing epitaphs the other day. No, I was not trying to get any ideas, but I certainly found them to be thought provoking. These are actual epitaphs:
In a Ribbesford, England, cemetery: Anna Wallace: The children of Israel wanted bread. And the Lord sent them manna. Old clerk Wallace wanted a wife, and the Devil sent him Anna.
Memory of an accident in a Uniontown, Pennsylvania, cemetery: Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake: Stepped on the gas instead of the brake.
In a cemetery in Hartscombe, England: On the 22nd of June - Jonathan Fiddle - Went out of tune.
In a Georgia cemetery: "I told you I was sick!"
In a Thurmont, Maryland, cemetery: Here lies an Atheist All dressed up And no place to go.
On a grave from the 1880s in Nantucket, Massachusetts: Under the sod and under the trees Lies the body of Jonathan Pease. He is not here, there's only the pod: Pease shelled out and went to God.
On Margaret Daniel's grave at Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia: She always said her feet were killing her but nobody believed her.
In a Silver City, Nevada, cemetery: Here lays Butch. We planted him raw. He was quick on the trigger, But slow on the draw.
Oops! Harry Edsel Smith of Albany, New York: Born 1903-Died 1942: Looked up the elevator shaft to see if the car was on the way down. It was.
The way we look at and accept the aging process is marked by the way in which we define it. I read once where you become 21, you turn 30, you're pushing 40, you reach 50, you make it to 60. Then you build up so much speed that you hit 70. After that, it's a day by day thing, you hit Wednesday.
Accepting the natural aging process is quite different from conceding to being old. In spite of having aches and pains, I still try not to be one and put up with those who are. It's been said that changing one's attitude is key to turning the corner on such issues. You know the old expression that it's just mind over matter. However, from my vantage point it appears to be more matter than mind.
As far as aging and mental faculties are concerned, I know there were a few things I wanted to address, but for the life of me, I just can't recall what they were. So I will close with The Senility Prayer - please join me as together we pray: "God grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, The good fortune to run into the ones I do, And the eyesight to tell the difference."
Amen!
©Summerville Journal-Scene 2006
posted by Doug Dickerson | 8:05 AM
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