Ray’s Daily
March 6, 2019
“True happiness is to enjoy the present… without anxious dependence upon the future.”
Seneca
A recent article reported that the greatest malady affecting the elderly is lonesomeness. The article said one in three of those 70 and above feel isolated and alone. The report showed data indicating that the lonely are sicker and die sooner than those who stay engaged with society.
I regret that so many of the lonely have given up on life and have withdrawn into themselves. I think each of us can make a difference by our not giving up on them. Showing an interest in the wirdrawn can let them know someone cares. I have found that the seniors I have met in our community do well in part because of the friendships they continue to make.
The following provides some insight into how we can live fully and avoid isolation.
A Creed To Live By
Nancye Sims
- Don’t undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others.
- It is because we are different that each of us are special. Don’t set your goals by what other people deem important. Only do what is best for you.
- Don’t take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling to them as you would your life, for without them life is meaningless.
- Don’t let life slip through your fingers by living in the past or in the future. By living one dayat a time you live all days of your life.
- Don’t give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.
- Don’t be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect. It is the fragile thread that binds us to each other.
- Don’t be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.
- Don’t shut love out of your life by saying it is impossible. The fastest way to lose love is to hold to it tightly, and the best way to keep love is to give it wings.
- Don’t dismiss your dreams. To be without dreams is to be with out hope, to be without hope is to be without purpose.
- Don’t run through life so fast that you forget not only where you have been, but also where you are going. Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way.
~~~
“The foolish seek happiness in the distance; the wise grow it under their feet.”
James Oppenheim
~~~
She said: It was the third day my husband, Joe, had been in the intensive care unit following his fifth surgery for the removal of most of his remaining small intestine. The surgery took many more hours than expected. Joe was older and weaker, and he wasn’t responding.
As I sat beside his bed, two nurses tried repeatedly to get him to cough, open his eyes, move a finger – anything to let them know he could hear them. He didn’t respond. I sat praying to God to please help Joe respond – any sign that he might survive.
Finally, one of the nurses turned to me and suggested that perhaps if she knew something personal about our family, she could try to stimulate his response with that knowledge. She said, “Maybe you, as his daughter, could help us with such information.”
I smiled and said, “I’ll be happy to give you personal information, and thank you for the compliment, but I’m his wife of forty-three years, not his daughter, and we’re about the same age.”
The nurse looked at me and said, “The entire staff thought you were his daughter and had even commented how wonderful they thought it was that his daughter was with him all the time.”
As they were expressing how I looked so young, a little cough came from my husband, and we all turned to stare at him. He didn’t open his eyes, but loud and clear he said, “She dyes her hair!”
~~~
“She had lost the art of conversation but not, unfortunately, the power of speech.”
George Bernard Shaw
~~~
An eighth grade teacher was leading a discussion on the qualifications for being president of the United States.
After the teacher commented that a person must be a natural born citizen. One of the students raised her hand, “Does that mean that if you were born by Caesarean section that you can’t be president?”
~~~
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me, there lay an invincible summer.
Albert Camus
~~~
One night a blonde nun was praying in her room when God appeared before her. “My daughter, you have pleased me greatly. Your heart is full of love for your fellow creatures and your actions and prayers are always for the benefit of others. I have come to you, not only to thank and commend you, but to grant you anything you wish,” said God. “Dear Heavenly Father, I am perfectly happy. I am a bride of Christ. I am doing what I love. I lack for nothing material since the Church supports me. I am content in all ways,” said the nun.
“There must be something you would have of me,” said God.
“Well, there is one thing,” she said.
“Just name it,” said God.
“It’s those blond jokes. They are so demeaning to blondes everywhere, not just to me. I would like for blond jokes to stop.”
“Consider it done,” said God. “Blonde jokes shall be stricken from the minds of humans everywhere. But surely there is something that I could do just for you.”
“There is one thing. But it’s really small, and not worth your time,” said the nun.
“Name it. Please,” said God.
“It’s the M&M’s,” said the nun. “They’re so hard to peel.”
~~~
We should all swap problems; everyone knows how to solve the other fellow’s.
~~~
A woman went into a hardware store to purchase a bale of peat moss. She gave a personal check in payment and said to the clerk, “I suppose you will want some identification.”
He replied, without hesitation, “No ma’am, that won’t be necessary.”
“How come?” asked the woman.
“Crooks don’t buy peat moss.” answered the clerk.
~~~
I personally don’t mind growing old, but my body’s taking it badly.
~~~
Approaching the counter at a local post office, I said to the stern-faced woman on the other side, “Are you the Postmistress?”
“No!” she replied testily, “I’m the Postmaster – Uncle Sam doesn’t pay me enough to be anyone’s mistress.”
~~~
“We can go through our whole lives worrying about our future happiness, and totally miss where true peace lives- right here, right now.”
Peter Russell
~~~
Ray Mitchell
Indianapolis, Indiana
Management is not responsible for duplicates from previous dailies. The editor is somewhat senile.
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