2011/09/28

As Old As My Fear

Youth
by Samuel Ullman


Youth is not a time of life ― it is a state of mind ; it is a temper of the will,
a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions,
a predominance of courage over timidity,
of the appetite for adventure over love of ease.

Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years ;
people grow old only by deserting their ideals.

Years wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.
Worry, doubt, self‐distrust, fear and despair ―these are the long,
long years that bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust.

Whether seventy or sixteen, there is in every being's heart the love of wonder,
the sweet amazement at the stars and the starlike things and thoughts,
the undaunted challenge of events, the unfailing childlike appetite for what next,
and the joy and the game of life.

You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt ;
as young as your self‐confidence, as old as your fear,
as young as your hope, as old as your despair.

So long as your heart receives messages of beauty,
cheer, courage, grandeur and power from the earth,
from man and from the Infinite, so long you are young.

When the wires are all down and all the central place of your heart is
covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism,
then you are grown old indeed and may God have mercy on your soul.


I'm so surprised to hear my daughter joined a Rafting tour.
I'm too afraid, as old as my fear.
I'm grown old indeed and may God have mercy on my soul.
私には無理! 神仏のあわれみを乞うしかない ・・・

「若さとは」
サミュエル ウルマン


青春とは人生の一時期のことではなく心のあり方のことだ。
若くあるためには、創造力・強い意志・情熱・勇気が必要であり、
安易(やすき)に就こうとする心を叱咤する 冒険への希求がなければならない。

人間は年齢(とし)を重ねた時老いるのではない。理想をなくした時老いるのである。
歳月は人間の皮膚に皺を刻むが 情熱の消失は心に皺を作る。

悩みや疑い 不安や恐怖  失望、これらのものこそ若さを消滅させ、
雲ひとつない空のような心を だいなしにしてしまう元凶である。

六十歳 になろうと十六歳であろうと人間は、驚きへの憧憬 夜空に輝く星座の煌きにも似た
事象や思想に対する敬愛  何かに挑戦する心  子供のような探究心

 人生の喜びとそれに対する 興味を変わらず胸に抱くことができる。

人間は信念とともに若くあり、疑念とともに老いる。
自信とともに若くあり、恐怖とともに老いる。
希望ある限り人間は若く、失望とともに老いるのである。

自然や神仏や他者から、美しさや喜び  勇気や力などを感じ取ることができる限り、その人は若いのだ。
感性を失い、心が皮肉に被われ、嘆きや悲しみに閉ざされる時、人間は真に老いるのである。
そのような人は神のあわれみを乞うしかない。

7 件のコメント:

  1. Very wise words. Sometime wisdom that comes with age saves us from shortening the years of a body that doesn't move as fast or bounce as easy. That looks like some pretty awesome and scary water they are rafting in. I like the way you've combined it with the beautiful art.

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  2. We have also done "Rafting"
    and its really scary
    but my girls loved it !!!!!!

    (love your words today :-)
    so so true ...

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  3. Always two hands of water beneath their boats. Have to admit, that I'm glad to older now. Many times wish even to be old.
    Yet, enjoy very much the young life of my four year old son.
    Great entry ! Please have you all a good Wednesday.

    daily athens

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  4. 確かに、何歳になっても気持ちは若いままでいたいですよね。
    ちなみに、
    ・こないだ、昔お世話になった70歳の大先輩と4時間飲みましたが、飲み負けました。
    ・うちの60歳を超える母は、携帯の絵文字を多用しています。。
    みんな、気持ちが若いです。。

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  5. Our daughter has done this as well, mild kayaking in France was more than enough for me in the thrills department!

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  6. Hi to all! 
    Thanks to your comment ♪ (*´∇`*)
    Without doubt, I'm too old to go rafting.
    However, I believe that keeping my blogs and visiting your blogs give me hearts and minds of young people.

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  7. My father still feels like he's 25 :) I hope to have the same feeling when I'm old. Though I do have more worries now than in childhood. Oh no, I'm getting old! ^.^

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