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Sunday, June 27, 2010

The Thoughts of Paul Harvey


Old Time Wisdom

I have no idea who Paul Harvey is. However, he seems to have authored one of those viral e-mail things that are making its way around the cyberworld. He wants me to pass it on to ten of my friends. However, I´m not sure I have ten friends, so I thought I would share his thoughts with you in this media. Fundamentally, as you will see he expresses his philosophy on life. I am moved by his suggestions because I have been there on so many occasions.

Paul Harvey writes:

“We tried so hard to make life better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I’d like better. I’d really like for them to know about hand-me-down clothes and homemade ice cream, and leftover meatloaf sandwiches. I really would.
I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.
I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car.
I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.
It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.
I hope you get a black eye fighting for something that you believe in.
I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister. It’s alright if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he/she wants to crawl under the covers with you because they’re scared, I hope you will let them.
When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to tag along, I hope you’ll let them.
I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do that safely.
On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don’t ask your driver to drop you off two blocks away so you won’t be seen riding with someone as un-cool as your Mom.
If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.
I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and to read books.
When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.
I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a boy/girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what ivory soap tastes like.
May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.
I don’t care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don’t like it…..and if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your friend.
I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma/Grandpa and go fishing with your Uncle.
May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.
I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through your neighbour’s window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Christmas time when you give her a plaster mould of your hand.
These things I wish for you--tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, it’s the only way to appreciate life.
Written with a pen…..sealed with a kiss. I’m here for you. And if I die before you do, I’ll go to Heaven and wait for you.”

Then he asks that you pass this along to at least ten of your friends and he included a riddle that I haven’t worked out yet.

I loved this piece because it’s as though he has drawn a broad brush over my own life. I have a real zest for life today, probably because I have had to mix the good times with the hard times. My first eight years were lived without electricity or shoes. I only received one gift at Christmas, and even that was something modest that I really loved. I walked to school and took the black eye, and I was ever so proud of my parents in the company of my peers. I saw my first movie, “Johnny Belinda” in the company of my older sister. I have never forgotten the experience and am still grateful to her.

The point with which I could not agree more is: never give your sixteen year-old a brand new car. Let him or her buy their own new car. That new car smell will be sweeter, deeper, and it will lasts forever.

Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael