If you have to lose something...
Go ahead and lose the ability to complain, but retain the ability to appreciate.
If you have to lose the ability to drive, also lose the ability to notice when someone quietly makes your keys disappear.
If it's hard to learn how to do new things, never mind learning how to pull the emergency chord to summon help, but learn to recognize new friendly faces as friends.
If you lose the ability to form your own sentences, keep the ability to recite blessings in Hebrew, and songs in Yiddish.
If you have to lose the ability to respond verbally to a conversation in the room, then keep the ability to laugh and to smile to show that you understand.
If you must forget something, do us a favor, and forget that you hate "cooked or fried onions," but keep the ability to enjoy food.
If you forget how to hold a fork, know that it's more important to remember a dance-hold.
If you have to lose the ability to speak, learn to make an expressive sound to show that you are trying, and let your last string of words to your daughter be "I love you very much."
If you lose the ability to remember the cute comment someone just made to you yesterday or even this morning about your colorful hat, then keep the ability to find the same little joke funny over and over again. You will make them feel very clever!
If you have to lose your ability to make a joke, keep your sense of humor.
If you almost completely lose the ability to walk, so that you have to be taken to a concert in a wheelchair, then miraculously still have the ability to dance when the music starts.
If you have to lose the ability to tell people that you are glad to see them, keep the ability to show it in your face.
If you lose the ability to think about the future or the past, keep the ability to enjoy the present.
There are, however, some things you should never lose, such as your everlasting sweetness.
It is also necessary to collect and leave behind tens of thousands of empty plastic and paper bags, rubber bands, twisties, and rusty tin cans. These things should be saved from one Economic Depression to the next, because you never know when you might need one.
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