Finished reading a great book today and in the conversation (it’s a fiction novel) one male character says, “All the suffering that is in the world arises from wishing ourselves to be happy. All the happiness there is in the world arises from wishing others to be happy.” It’s an interesting way to consider happiness.
Another part of this book, Max says, “I’ve always been attracted to people’s imperfections.”
Nora laughs and says, “Like what?”
“Like Charlie’s eyebrows, how they don’t grow in one direction. Or the scar on Fern’s forehead.”
“Her dad dropped her when she was a baby.”
“Or the way the developer’s ears stick out –”
“And they are always burning red.”
“Yes, exactly. And your sister’s teeth. I fell in love with her the minute I saw her overbite. And the way those two little teeth on the bottom lean toward each other.”
“Doesn’t that just mean someone couldn’t afford an orthodontist?”
“It means they’re human.” Max shrugged. “I’m more interested in what a person thinks and feels anyway, but if we have to look like something, which we do, I’d rather look at someone whose fac shows they’ve lived a little. That they’ve struggled a little. The people who look super smooth, they look ….”
“Creepy.”
Max laughed. “Sometimes. I always wonder what they’re trying to hide. We’re all suffering. I guess I just relate to people who are willing to share more of themselves.”
Max was one of my favorite characters in the book. I liked things he said. I wonder what Max would have said about the Corona Quarantine. On the virus subject, there are some funny things being said on facebook these days. Here’s three of my favorites that address the closing of beauty salons:
“We are about three weeks away from finding out what everyone’s real hair color is.”
And the one, “In eight weeks, 88% of blondes will disappear from the earth.”
And even better, “I had the worst pedicure today in my life. First, she was rude. She didn’t know what she was doing. She made my cuticles bleed and I have nail polish everywhere. I am never going back to myself again for a pedicure.”
When our lives get a bit of a change, it is always best to keep a sense of humor about us.
Trivia: It is sad to grow old, but nice to ripen. ~Brigitte Bardot
Think on it: Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art. ~Eleanor Roosevelt
Famous Okie information: Speaking of humor, comedian Dan Rowan was featured in the television show Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, where he played straight man to Dick Martin and won the 1969 Emmy for Outstanding Variety or Musical Series.
Rowan was born on July 22, 1922, on a carnival train near the small town of Beggs, Okla., as Daniel Hale David. He toured with his parents, who performed a singing and dancing act with the carnival.
He was orphaned at the age of 11, spent four years at the McClelland Home in Pueblo, Colo., and then was taken in by a foster family at the age of 16. After graduating from high school in 1940, he hitchhiked to Los Angeles and found a job in the mailroom at Paramount Pictures. A year later he became Paramount’s youngest staff writer.
During World War II, Rowan served as a fighter pilot in the 8th Fighter Squadron, 49th Fighter Group United States Army Air Forces. His military decorations include the Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Air Medal, and the Purple Heart. After his discharge, Rowan returned to California, where he teamed up with Dick Martin and started a comedy nightclub act. The team had appeared on television before, but it was not until the critical success of a summer special in 1967 that they found fame on Laugh-In.
He died on Sept. 22, 1987.
Keep going on New Year’s resolutions: Be kind on social media.
Good advice: “Books. They are lined up on shelves or stacked on a table. There they are wrapped up in their jackets, lines of neat print on nicely bound pages. They look like such orderly, static things. Then you, the reader come along. You open the book jacket, and it can be like opening the gates to an unknown city, or opening the lid of a treasure chest. You read the first word and you’re off on a journey of exploration and discover.” ~David Almond
Made me laugh: You can only be young once, but you can be immature forever. ~Dave Berry
See you on the bricks soon. Stay safe.