What we are to do then is this: Live. First and foremost is: keep on living. Don’t quit. Don’t give up. There’s a lot of life to yet be experienced. Keep moving. Keep on finding new frontiers to explore. Keep learning. Keep on dancing. You are never… I repeat… never too old. Take a trip to some foreign destination. Learn a new skill. Attempt a new sport. Enroll in night classes. Read a book. Explore your own locale. Find a new restaurant. Learn a new language. Take a chance and make a new friend. Revive an old hobby. Start a new collection. Try a new recipe. Learn to paint. Learn to sail. Love to learn.
Secondly, in the midst of all this learning and loving, we ought to keep passing on to our children and grandchildren the values and beliefs that they in turn will either pick up or pass over. They will take a little, leave a little, and probably add a little of their own, and from this collection they will carve out their lives in a world to which I no longer belong. We will see our children and grandchildren grow, mature and excel in a world in which we no longer fit. And one day we will leave and they will remain to continue this cycle with my great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren. If I were truly honest I would have to admit that the world in which I grew up was probably not as good as I remember it to be, and their world will not be as bad as I’m afraid it will be. I will die. They will survive.
My hope is that at some point in the not to distant future, our present world will see the value in the common courtesies of the past. I would hope that we could regain some of the decency and manners prescribed by former editions of Emily Post’s Etiquette. That the old unwritten rules of civility and respect could likewise find a new home in our current world. That the rule of the Bible to “do no harm” would once again rule the day, and we could once again trust a stranger. But one thing is for sure: there doesn’t seem to be any real turning around. We are not going back. We can only go forward while bringing with us the best of the traditions and courtesies of the past.
No comments:
Post a Comment