Getting Older and the Desiderata (Things to Be Desired)

Go Placidly Amid the Noise and the Haste

By Stormy Malone

December 02, 2006

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As I get older I realize I've galloped through life as if it were some sort of horse race with a winner's circle up ahead. How misguided is that? Twenty-something, thirty-something, on to forty, then fifty, married, unmarried, with kids underfoot and then with an empty nest, etc. In short, I've pretty much run the same race as most of middle-class America. Now, being past the half-century mark, I know that the starting gate is a long way behind me and the finish line is not far from the bend in the rail up yonder. I can just see it out of the corner of my eye… Oh, Yippee-Ki-Yay (not).

Not every day, but sometimes that finish line up ahead has me worried. I wonder, do have enough money saved to even get there at all? (Follow the preceeding link - pretty glum for me personally). Or, will my world end if I don't get a mammogram? As I fret over such things, I ask also why preventive health care is so expensive. Does the government want me to die? It seems that, while the decision-makers don't want me to die in a terror attack, they amazingly don't give a hoot if I die of cancer. (Fortunately, a few doctors care about affordable healthcare.) But that's a detailed discussion for another time. In another ten years will I be consumed by thoughts of estrogen, broken bones, and nursing homes? That doesn't sound too good.

But, then I get a grip on my doom thoughts for just a moment. I ask myself if I really want to think about such maudlin things. After all, with raising children behind me, what I choose to do is center stage in my life for the first time since I was in my early twenties. My paycheck, although not overly large, is nevertheless mine to manage as I see fit. For the most part I think I look and feel immeasurably better than my mother did at my age. It's great that the race has brought me to a new phase of life, which I hope to enjoy. To occupy myself with pending decline when I've just begun to enjoy a new "life" suggests irony that is less than pleasing.

The Desiderata - along with every other inspirational poem on the subject of life - tells me not to undermine mental well being by railing against cosmic law. I wonder, if I light a rose herbal candle, for example, and say a prayer in remembrance of the many blessings that already are, can I keep the doom of aging at bay? Perhaps that's a lot to ask even from the Almighty and from one precariously flickering flame. I am resolved, however, to put a copy of the Desiderata on my refrigerator. It goes like this:

Desiderata
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

- Most likely written by Max Ehrmann in the 1920s -