Blessings

"May you live in interesting times."

This ancient Confucian curse is sometimes misunderstood as a blessing by the inexperienced young. Us old farts know better. Having had a life full of "interesting" times, we seek the simplicity of yore. If we're blessed, we eventually attain this state of being, and are truly thankful of such.

It helps to think positive, but blessings are in the eye of the beholder, as one man's trash is another's blessing. "After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting" (Star Trek's Spock). Not only is everything relative to each other but also to time.

For a youngster, we should wish that lack and struggle only serve to make them stronger.

A blessing to middle-aged people is a wish that every doubt and fear be replaced by a deep abiding trust as they observe evidence of a higher being all around them.

A blessing to solitary old geezers is to tell them to be aware that they are loved beyond measure. But I'll take any kind of attention whatsoever, having no shame.


- © 2009 by Willy