George
Age 91
George was more than willing to share in response to whatever we had on our hearts to ask. His words truly reflect his very being.
“Actually it might seem stupid to most people, but in the back of my mind I am always saying, ‘What have I got that I can give….what have I got that I am not using, that is cumbersome, actually, and I want to give it away.’ It’s in my mind day and night. I take stuff to church and hand it out. I am sure a lot of people take it and they don’t want it, but that’s the way I feel, always felt it.
"I had a twin brother. He was in the 82nd Airborne during the war, Battle of the Bulge, small guy. When he was a kid and we had candy, he'd offer a piece of candy to somebody. If they refused, he’d go in the corner and cry." Emphatically he added, "He’d cry and cry because they refused to take something from him. ’Til the day he died, he was that way. Despite being interrupted by having to kill in the war, which he had to do because he had a gun at his head.
“As far as taking stuff from people, I hate it. I really hate it. It’s not that I am not appreciative, it’s just that something inside me says ‘Give, give, don’t take!’. If, at the end of the day, I realize I have given somebody something that they appreciated, I sleep good."
George's final gift of wisdom, the icing on the cake, so to speak, “Of course the Golden Rule: always! You can’t beat it! ‘Do unto others as you would have them do to you’. I am serious about that! You know, everybody gets irritated. For example, ‘I’d like to knock him on the head!’, you know this kind of stuff. Then you stop and think…‘Hey, he’s got a mind of his own…just not like mine.’ We’re all different, G-d knew what he was doing.” So very true and each encounter, no matter how fleeting or lasting, is a Divine acquaintance. As the Good Book says, "The soul of man is the flame of G-d...", Proverbs 20:27
Relevant Quotes
Sayings that get your mind moving...
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
That which you cannot give away you do not possess. It possesses you.
Truth is a verb.
To be is more essential than to have.
It is not mens acts which disturb us - but our reaction to them. Take these away, and anger goes.
Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value. People are considered successful who get more out of life than they put in. But a person of value will give more then he receives.