Do you keep a catalog of wrongs – a list of thoughtless words your coworkers, your child, your husband, your neighbor spewed? Mean, knucklehead deeds that rattled you so much you had to walk away or “vent” or teach them a lesson?
I did until I worked at a nursing home and glimpsed my future. Elderly people, who spent their lives tapping the sharp lead of their pencils on their tongues before scribing others' sins, suffer the most.
Patience is a muscle when you are old. Sometimes the only muscle. Without it, you become brittle and shards of bone leach from your every pore. No one wants to touch you.
Now determines then.
Photo of Janet Keller by Lora Keller
I did until I worked at a nursing home and glimpsed my future. Elderly people, who spent their lives tapping the sharp lead of their pencils on their tongues before scribing others' sins, suffer the most.
Patience is a muscle when you are old. Sometimes the only muscle. Without it, you become brittle and shards of bone leach from your every pore. No one wants to touch you.
Now determines then.
Photo of Janet Keller by Lora Keller
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