1. We put more emphasis on who can drive a car than on who can be a parent. And I think there ought to be mandatory parenting classes starting in high school, and you should have to have a license to be able to be a parent to explain that you don't give alcohol to kids. Dale Archer
This quote, although aimed at the older child or at driving and drinking,points out that parents should be licensed. I don't think that is helpful; but I do think parenting classes should be taught by an experienced educated parent. They should be given in the last six years of school. That is; grades 6 or 7 to 12 or the 4th year of High School. i believe I would have been able to handle parenthood better than I did if I had been given that opportunity.
2. The past is a stronger influence in the South. But I think everywhere you have this sense that the world changes faster than you can accommodate yourself to. Looking back and seeing how you got where you are is a useful way to combat disorientation. Charles Frazier
I think that Frazier is correct here although I realize he has said it to be humourous. I would further say that it is important to remember not to compare now with then in judgement of ones' progress.
3. I always knew looking back on my tears would bring me laughter, but I never knew looking back on my laughter would make me cry. Cat Stevens
I completely agree with Cat; although there are people in my life that think that nostalgia is not a valid way of dealing with ones past. There are others who seem to enjoy picking my life apart as though it were a carcass. Somewhere along the way they have forgotten Matthew 7:1-2. 'Judge not, that ye be not judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.' Jesus didn’t mean we should never make a judgment about right and wrong. As He explained, He meant we shouldn’t make a judgement hypocritically. The verses that follow make this patently clear (Matthew 7:3-5).
4. I've been going through photos of my mother, looking back on her life and trying to put it into context. Very few people age gracefully enough to be photographed through their aging. Jamie Lee Curtis
My mother aged very gracefully and she was the picture of beauty, honesty, kindness, and understanding. I always wanted to be like my mother but know I failed miserably. What I did miss going up to my 40's is being totally myself. Now that I have finally decided to do but it seems others don't think I should.
I wanted to please others and made the great mistake of wanting to live up to their expectations. Now when I give a reason for doing something they call my reason an excuse. This is because they haven't listened to what I said or read my text properly. I haven't been able, at least not 100%, to stop trying to live up to other peoples expectations; but I am getting there.
You may have faced situations where you have been told not to give excuses when in fact you were giving reasons for doing something or failing to do something. Such situations can be very confusing because we fail to see the difference that exists between the two words. Let us look at it in this manner. A reason simply refers to a cause or explanation. It explains why someone did something or why something happened. An excuse, on the other hand, is also a type of reason that specifically justifies or defends a fault. In this sense, the key difference is that while a reason is merely an explanation, an excuse specifically focuses on justifying a fault. http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-reason-and-vs-excuse/
5. I feel increasingly like age is very irrelevant. Quite often, cynicism is confused with wisdom, and my scorn is confused with a knowing, which I don't have. Laura Marling
Everyone knows some information from school, their job or the internet. Some of us older folks have information from the time we first talked or earlier right up to the present. The older I get and the more I learn the more I know, the more I know the more I want to know. Hopefully, we spend our lives learning things and some of us never loose our curiousity. So tell me who is particularly wise in this world? I don't think anyone is wiser than anyone else at that age. Wisdom is accumulated bit by bit across our lifespans. However what makes us wise is that we are forever teachable and capable of imparting information to others in conversation. That is the pleasant time for me; sharing a dialogue completely.
Wee Few Words of Dylan the Dog