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SOLERA DIAMOND VALLEY | OCTOBER 2023 11 Submitted by Linda Weiss, Resident A friend of mine sent the following article to me as something to think about. I found it very thought provoking. It gave me a whole new perspective at looking at life in general. Will it change your outlook on life? Have you ever thought about this? In 100 years like in 2123 we will all be buried with our relatives and friends. Strangers will live in our homes we fought so hard to build, and they will own everything we have today. All our possessions will be unknown and unborn, including the car we spent a fortune on, and will probably be scrap, preferably in the hands of an unknown collector. Our descendants will hardly or hardly know who we were, nor will they remember us. How many of us know our grandfather's father? Aer we die, we will be remembered for a few more years, then we are just a portrait on someone's bookshelf, and a few years later our history, photos and deeds disappear in history's oblivion. We won't even be memories. If we paused one day to analyze these questions, perhaps we would understand how ignorant and weak the dream to achieve it all was. If we could only think about this, surely our approaches, our thoughts would change, we would be different people. Always having more, no time for what's really valuable in this life. I'd change all this to live and enjoy the walks I've never taken, these hugs I didn't give, these kisses for our children and our loved ones, these jokes we didn't have time for. ose would certainly be the most beautiful moments to remember, aer all they would fill our lives with joy. And we waste it day aer day with greed and intolerance. ~ Author Unknown By eresa Rossetti, Resident Are you tired of the overuse of insults, many including profanity, nowadays? It's not just films and TV, it seems to be commonplace in everyday conversations. What some might have previously said in private or with a group of like-minded friends is now almost the norm, easily overheard by anyone close by. According to George Weigel, a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., this is a sign of our cultural decline. It wasn't always so. In his essay e Gentlemanly Art of the Insult he gives numerous examples of much better ways some very famous people have managed to insult others without causing a duel at sunrise. Take for example this exchange between George Bernard Shaw and Winston Churchill. Shaw to Churchill: "I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend, if you have one." Churchill's reply: "Cannot possibly attend first night; will attend second, if there is one." Churchill figures prominently in another one I found very amusing. Lady Astor (an American-born member of the House of Commons) to Churchill at a dinner party: "If you were my husband, Winston, I'd poison your soup." Replied Churchill: "And if you were my wife, Nancy, I'd drink it." Oscar Wilde was very capable of getting his point across as well. "Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go." Politicians and authors weren't the only ones who knew how to get their point across without the use of four-letter words. From the undeniably snarky Mae West: "His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork." Or perhaps you prefer Groucho Marx: "I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it." ere are, of course many awesome movie lines that accomplish the same thing. From A Fish Called Wanda: "To call you stupid would be an insult to stupid people." Or from e Hangover: "You are literally too stupid to insult." Or just go with this one from e Wizard of Oz: "You clinking, clanking, clattering collection of caliginous junk!" I leave you with one last one, from Joan Crawford in the movie e Women: "By the way, there's a name for you ladies, but it isn't used in high society outside of a kennel." I'm pretty sure you can figure that one out. Next time someone irritates you to the point of no return, instead of going the easy route, how about trying something a bit more creative. Some Things to Think About The Art of the Insult If you were my husband, Winston, I'd poison your soup. And if you were my wife, Nancy, I'd drink it.

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