Comments on: Reluctance

By: snopercod

snopercod — Fri, 07 Oct 2016 14:21:10 +0000

My grandfather used to tell me, “I’ve outlived most of my friends and all of my enemies”. I kind of think outliving my friends will be the hardest thing; I won’t have anyone to share all those memories with.

By: parker

parker — Fri, 07 Oct 2016 03:22:11 +0000

JJ,

Yes, be gentle with yourself. And, when possible, be gentle with others. Alas, too often that is not possible.

By: Ralph Kinney Bennett

Ralph Kinney Bennett — Fri, 07 Oct 2016 03:15:30 +0000

Ah, Neo. Thank you for that Frost poem. How I have missed it I don’t know. The last stanza is sublime. Just think of all the prose and poetry that has been written over the centuries trying to explain or prepare us for the “end game.” When we’re young we don’t want to be bothered to read it, or we read it with an only partially formed understanding. As we grow older we realize that we are all writing our own”how to” manuals. I only know this, Neo. Thou hast a canny heart.

By: J.J.

J.J. — Fri, 07 Oct 2016 02:30:27 +0000

At 83 I am still trying to be relevant. The Great Divide is looming larger on the horizon and I’m doing my best to ignore it. These words from Max Erhmann’s “The Desiderata” are my guide.
“Take kindly to the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.”

Wise words. Not easy to live, at least for me.

By: OM

OM — Fri, 07 Oct 2016 01:09:00 +0000

“It is not easy to be the last leaf on the tree, to remember all those who have now passed on,” I don’t remember where I read this, from an interview with a centenarian.

By: snopercod

snopercod — Fri, 07 Oct 2016 01:00:37 +0000

The old Neo is back! More like this, please!

By: Dan Vining

Dan Vining — Fri, 07 Oct 2016 00:38:28 +0000

Frost wrote so well about loss and longing. In “Directive”, he shows us the abandoned path in the woods and the place of imagination where kids used to play with sticks and pieces of broken plates. “Weep for what little things could make them glad…” He waves the reader forward with, “Come, if you’ll let a guide direct you only has at heart your getting lost…” Maybe growing older and seeing the end of things both small and large is getting un-lost. What is it the youngsters say now? Woke?

It’s been almost fifty years since I first read those lines of Frost. To quote a less academically-recognized poet, Bob Seger, “I wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then.”

Thanks for this post.

By: parker

parker — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 22:05:49 +0000

Aging is a bittersweet time of life. We can hope we have gained a bit of wisdom over the decades and a degree of patience. Forunately, I have a 48 year companion who has been both an anchor and the wind in my sails.