𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑦 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑜 𝑓𝑎𝑟.
𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑓𝑢𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒.
𝐼 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑏𝑜𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑎 𝑏𝑜𝑤𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠. 𝐴𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡, ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑏𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑓𝑒𝑤 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡, ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦....
𝐼 𝑛𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑜𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦/𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑦.
𝐼 𝑑𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑔𝑜𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒....
𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠, 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒, 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑠, 𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑠, 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑢𝑐𝑘.
𝐼 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠,
𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒....
𝐼 𝑛𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜, 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑔𝑒, 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒....
𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑔𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 , 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑑𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑏𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑠....
𝑀𝑦 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑏𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑠. 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑤....
𝑀𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑙 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑦....
𝑁𝑜𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑏𝑜𝑤𝑙....
𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑟𝑒 "ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛" -
ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠;
..𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑐o𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑚𝑢𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑢𝑚𝑝ℎ𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓-𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒....
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒
𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ!
𝑌𝑒𝑠, 𝐼’𝑚 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑦.
𝐼’𝑚 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒....
𝐼 𝑑𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒s....
𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑒, 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑜 𝑓𝑎𝑟.
𝐴𝑠 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑢𝑐𝑖𝑢𝑠 : “𝑊𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠.
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑒.”
Brazilian poet: Mário de Andrade:
👌👌👌 Loved that! Especially the Confucius quote!!
An accurate summation of life for me as I am an octogenarian. The writer clearly does not suffer fools gladly. By this age one ought to be reflecting on the legacy we have crafted for ourselves over the years . The writer seems to be in an awful hurry to right the wrongs of this world. I would rather be the change I want to see in others or in the world. I am reminded of the little boy on the shore running from one beached star fish to another and flinging one by one back into the sea water to save them and when told by an elderly passer by that he was wasting his time he replied:…