I’ve been cleaning out cupboards and closets lately, and when doing this yesterday, I came across three stuffed folders of writings/pictures/philosophies, etc. that had inspired me throughout the years enough to want to print them, and to keep them, and to even stuff them into moving boxes to take to our next homes. (I have plenty of those folders all around my house. This was just from one shelf, from one cupboard.) In it, I found a list of all of the children, and their birthdates, and their middle names, born to nine of us women who have remained good friends since college. (Interestingly we have had 24 children amongst us: 12 boys and 12 girls. Nature knows what it is doing.) What was really cool is that when I came across this list, I realized that the youngest baby born to our friend group was having her ninth birthday yesterday!
Another thing that moved me (once again) was from a eulogy of a friend of a friend’s father. This man grew up in a working class family from my hometown, Pittsburgh, PA, and he ended up being a very successful dentist, builder and developer, after he had successfully served in the Marine Corps during VietNam. He raised five children with the love of his life, and together they had seventeen grandchildren. He died in 2008. The eulogy mostly consists from what is written at the top of the eulogy: “Our gift to you from the family is a list of sayings, thoughts, that our father expressed to others and advice from his personal letters. They may not all be original, but they do represent how he lived his life.”
Readers, there are quite a few of these sayings and thoughts and philosophies that the family attributed to this wonderful man. I am just going to list a few:
Tell your family and your friends that you love them . . . every day.
If it’s going to be, it’s up to me!
Always, always, always treat everyone with respect.
If a poor kid from Pittsburgh with average intelligence could do it, then anyone can.
Do small things for others – leave notes, compliment them, smile, you will make their day.
The glass is half full.
Lead by example. You don’t always have to tell someone. They will see.
Only ask of others what you are willing to do. Be humble and sweep the floor and take out the trash.
We are the stuff of stars.
See God in nature – everywhere.
Never forget that freedom comes from responsibility and discipline.
You must constantly thank others.
Life is but a series of learning experiences.
We adults miss so much. We become wrapped up in success and worldly things.
Tell others how proud you are of them. Do it often and tell them specifically.
Be patient. Things may be difficult now, but there will come a time when these will be your most happy moments.
Always be questioning everything. Have a hunger and thirst for knowledge.
A man’s life expands and contracts in direct relation with his courage.
If I listed everything that this man did and accomplished in his life, your head would spin. He died at the age of 68. Here is the last of his words printed on the eulogy:
I am the bow and you are the arrow. I have pulled the string tight and true. Soon I will release the tension and you will enter the universe of life. It is your turn.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.