Or, to put it another way, courtesy of song-writers Richard and Robert Sherman, from the 1971 Walt Disney film, Bedknobs and Broomsticks...Youth is not entirely a time of life it is a state of mind. It is not wholly a matter of ripe cheeks, red lips or supple knees. It is a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions, a freshness of the deep springs of life. It means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of an appetite for adventure over love of ease...
Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul. Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair — these are the long, long years that bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust.
Whatever your years, there is in every being's heart the love of wonder, the undaunted challenge of events, the unfailing childlike appetite for what next, and the joy and the game of life.
You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair.
In the central place of every heart there is a recording chamber; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer and courage, so long are you young. When the wires are all down and your heart is covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then, and then only are you grown old...
Saturday, 21 August 2010
AGE OF NOT BELIEVING
As I was standing, recently, shivering on the brink of accepting a job that is going to be one of the most challenging I have ever undertaken in my career, I came across this inspiring quote from an address given by General Douglas MacArthur in 1955:
I cannot express how perfect that song fits where my head is, today. I have had my faith in things shaken in the last few years, and being at the brink of success in my mind, more than once, only to have factors beyond my control overcome it. I think of Churchill often,I graduated from Winston Churchill High School in San Antonio, Texas, but it is the sheer determination WC exhibited that really insists in my own life, to "never, never, never give up. Brian, you are one of my heroes by your sheer volumes of amazing work and commentary, I hope your new endeavor is nothing BUT a success. - Bill
ReplyDeleteAndy J Latham posted a comment that in my early morning half-awake state (sorry about this, Andy) I accidentally deleted! Here's what he said:
ReplyDelete"I hope all goes well with whatever the job is. Can you talk about what it is? Sounds exciting!
"Keep on believing Brian! :)"
Well done Brian! Go for it - because we all know you can.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck to you Brian.
ReplyDeleteI must read these words every day!
ReplyDeleteBrian, you know my thoughts on the project - echoed by Sheila.
One of my all time favorite movies. I think it was the first theatrical film I ever saw. That my parents took me to see. I was thinking about it these past few days, and when I came here, there was your post. Our minds are in Jungian synchronicity.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the supportive comments, folks! :) And, yes, Andy, I will write about it when the ink on the contract is dry ...
ReplyDeleteApropos Bedknobs, Mike: I still remember the slight feeling of disappointment when I first saw it – mainly because it wasn't (as I had hoped) another Mary Poppins.
ReplyDeleteIt had been such a long time coming with Ron Moody being originally slated for the Tomlinson role. But, in those days, as a Disney fan, I bought into pretty much everything they did and I paid quite a lot of money for a ticket to the Royal Charity Premiere in Leicester Square. What's more, I ended up sitting behind Tessie O'Shea!