Category Archives: spark your spirit

satnam

centenarians

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A couple of days ago I found the (written) interviews with centenarians on one of my favorite blogs (which wordpress refuses to let me link to right now, but on my blogroll it’s lickystickypickyme.) I was intrigued, so I dug around the interweb for some more interesting 100-plus-year-olds and came up with the videos.  I just love them.

Touching interviews with centenarians, about their look on their long lives:(clockwise) Alice Herz-Sommer, 108 I survived the concentration camps, and this is something extraordinary. Thousands and millions that had to die, and we are sitting here. When we are old, we are aware of the beauty of life. Young people take everything for granted. It all depends on the character you’re born with. Everything I forget. Even if I write it down, I forget to look. I had an excellent memory and now, I’m an idiot! [Laughs] What do I do against it? I learn Bach by heart and play the piano. My son died aged 64. He was a gifted musician, and a wonderful son. My only child. Nellie Wright, 103 I don’t get by, I exist from one day to the other. I’m hoping for the end to come. I’m tired of it. Why should it be like this? Not a penny in my purse! I’ve worked 74 years. Why am I here? I’m waiting for God to straighten this out. I should be home! My husband died while I was in here. I never even got to his funeral. It doesn’t matter. I’ve been a decent girl, never drunk or gone with men. I’ve just lived and worked like a silly fool. Helen Turner, 101 I’m going to live to 120! I had a party and champagne at 100. Actually, I can’t remember much of it, as I’d had a lot to drink. I was engaged once, but I never met… well, I knew what I was looking for and I found it, but too late. He’s a professor. Of course he’s married. And I can’t imagine he’s the sort of person to go off the rails. Not that I wouldn’t want him to. I’m not saying I’m that good! Nora Hardwick, 105 It’s in the genes, I suppose. My mother was 94 and my eldest sister was 96. Granny was 97. I’ve kept my brain active. I read and do crosswords. And I have a little shot of whisky at bedtime. I think that helps. If it wasn’t for my daughters, I’d have to have somebody in every day, but, you see, Maureen has showered me today and Jan’s washed my hair. They keep me clean, that’s the main thing. I’ve treated myself to a little scooter that I can get out on, in the fresh air. I don’t like sitting all day. I take every day as it comes. Each one is a bonus.

Touching interviews with centenarians, about their look on their long lives:
(clockwise)

  1. Alice Herz-Sommer, 108
    I survived the concentration camps, and this is something extraordinary. Thousands and millions that had to die, and we are sitting here. When we are old, we are aware of the beauty of life. Young people take everything for granted. It all depends on the character you’re born with.
    Everything I forget. Even if I write it down, I forget to look. I had an excellent memory and now, I’m an idiot! [Laughs] What do I do against it? I learn Bach by heart and play the piano. My son died aged 64. He was a gifted musician, and a wonderful son. My only child.
  2. Nellie Wright, 103
    I don’t get by, I exist from one day to the other. I’m hoping for the end to come. I’m tired of it. Why should it be like this? Not a penny in my purse! I’ve worked 74 years.
    Why am I here? I’m waiting for God to straighten this out. I should be home! My husband died while I was in here. I never even got to his funeral. It doesn’t matter. I’ve been a decent girl, never drunk or gone with men. I’ve just lived and worked like a silly fool.
  3. Helen Turner, 101
    I’m going to live to 120! I had a party and champagne at 100. Actually, I can’t remember much of it, as I’d had a lot to drink.
    I was engaged once, but I never met… well, I knew what I was looking for and I found it, but too late. He’s a professor. Of course he’s married. And I can’t imagine he’s the sort of person to go off the rails. Not that I wouldn’t want him to. I’m not saying I’m that good!
  4. Nora Hardwick, 105
    It’s in the genes, I suppose. My mother was 94 and my eldest sister was 96. Granny was 97. I’ve kept my brain active. I read and do crosswords. And I have a little shot of whisky at bedtime. I think that helps.
    If it wasn’t for my daughters, I’d have to have somebody in every day, but, you see, Maureen has showered me today and Jan’s washed my hair. They keep me clean, that’s the main thing. I’ve treated myself to a little scooter that I can get out on, in the fresh air. I don’t like sitting all day. I take every day as it comes. Each one is a bonus.

the gap

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In light of the last few posts over here which have left me a bit disheartened, I thought I’d post something more uplifting.  Yet, it’s still kind of sad as well as beautiful.  At any rate… Yay, Don Ritchie!

HERO: Man Lives on cliff and talks down suicide jumpers…for last 50 years

Max Read —

Image

Meet the Australian Who’s Saved 160 People from Suicide.

Don Ritchie lives across the street from the most famous suicide spot in Australia: A cliff known as “The Gap.” Most people would move, but Ritchie’s stayed for almost 50 years—saving an estimated 160 people from suicide.

So what’s his big secret? Ritchie wakes up every morning and looks out the window for “anyone standing alone too close to the precipice.” If he sees someone who looks like they might be contemplating a jump, he walks over and… strikes up a conversation.

He just gives them a warm smile, asks if they’d like to talk and invites them back to his house for tea. Sometimes, they join him.

“I’m offering them an alternative, really,” Ritchie says. “I always act in a friendly manner. I smile.”

Ritchie’s house might be the worst real estate ever. One person a week commits suicide at the “the Gap,” the cliff he lives across from. It’s protected only by a small, one-meter fence, despite its legendary reputation as a suicide spot dating back to the 1800s.

But the former life insurance salesman says he doesn’t feel “burdened” by the fact that people are always contemplating jumping to their deaths outside his house. In fact, he and his wife Moya see it as a blessing: “I think, ‘Isn’t it wonderful that we live here and we can help people?'”

Obviously, he’s not always successful, and, at times, he’s had to physically restrain people from jumping while Moya calls the police. But it isn’t necessarily traumatic:

Despite all he has seen, he says he is not haunted by the ones who were lost. He cannot remember the first suicide he witnessed, and none have plagued his nightmares. He says he does his best with each person, and if he loses one, he accepts that there was nothing more he could have done.

Ritchie, who basically sounds like the nicest guy in the entire world, is 84, and has spent much of the last year battling cancer. But, as you might expect for a dude who’s managed to live across from a… tragic place, and not become a casualty himself, he’s optimistic: “I imagine somebody else will come along and do what I’ve been doing.” I hope so.

no recognition

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i think this is just wrong… so wrong!  come on guinness!  i really don’t have anything else to say about it… except that i would love to have the opportunity to talk with mrs. lanier about all that she’s witnessed.

Slave’s daughter has ‘119th birthday party’ but Guinness won’t verify her as world’s oldest person

Daughter of Slaves Won’t Be Recognized as Oldest Woman. Rebecca Lanier celebrated her 119th birthday this week. Born to parents who were former slaves, she believes she’s the oldest person in the world, and her family has documentation to back up the claim, in the form of a letter from the Social Security Administration. But the U.K.’s Daily Mail reports that because she was born in the 1890s, when it was commonplace for African-American babies not to be issued birth certificates, she doesn’t have the documentation Guinness World Records requires to be honored for her record-setting life. So they refuse to acknowledge her. Lanier has witnessed more than 20 presidents and lived through two world wars. She’s outlived her husband and daughters. And after all this, she’s still suffering residual effects of the racial inequality that existed more than a century ago, when she was born. “It’s quite a rigorous process that you go through because the birth certificate is a crucial matter,” a Guinness World Records spokesman told MailOnline, explaining why Lanier’s age won’t be recognized.

Mrs Rebecca Lanier never had birth certificate, required by Guinness World Records, as she was a black girl born to slave parents

By MARK DUELL

This ‘great-great-great-great grandmother’ claims to have lived through three centuries and her family believe she could be the oldest person in the world.

But Rebecca Lanier, 119, whose secret to long life is to ‘keep on living’, will not be recognised by Guinness World Records because she has no birth certificate.

Mrs Lanier, of Warrensville Heights, Ohio, who was born in March 1892, has seventh-generation grandchildren and outlived her husband and their two daughters.

She was born in a small Mississippi community to parents who had been slaves, at a time when many laws were prejudiced against black people in the South.

Because Mrs Lanier is black she was born with no birth certificate in the 1890s, which was normal in the South even though slavery had ended almost thirty years earlier.

This has caused problems as the Guinness Book of World Records needs that certificate to verify her age, which would make her the oldest living person in the world.

‘It’s quite a rigorous process that you go through because the birth certificate is a crucial matter,’ a Guinness World Records spokesman told MailOnline.

Mrs Lanier does however have a letter from the Social Security Administration that states the year of her birth as 1892, her grandson, Jimmie Shambley, 61, said.

But a Social Security spokesman told MailOnline they do not give verification of age and the burden of evidence is on claimants, who must provide official documents.

These can include birth certificates, citizenship certificates or permanent residence cards, with individuals receiving benefits getting an annual letter with their details on.

She spends her time doing the Chinese martial art tai chi every day and does not need to take any medication for illnesses or ailments.

Mrs Lanier, who now lives with Jimmie Shambley and his family, says she is ‘doing alright’ and had her 119th birthday at Warrensville Heights Senior Center on Tuesday.

When asked ‘How old are you today momma?’ by her great grandson Christopher Shambley, she replied: ‘Don’t worry about how old I am’.

Still going: Her grandson, Jimmie Shambley, said: 'She still is in her right mind and has great health. She makes her bed up every morning as she gets dressed'

‘She still is in her right mind and has great health,’ grandson Jimmie Shambley (above) told Scripps Media. ‘She makes her bed up every morning as she gets herself dressed.’

Mrs Lanier uses a ‘walker’ to balance herself as she moves, but often travels with the family on aeroplanes to various events around the country, they said.

‘She had two daughters. My mother had seven kids,’ Jimmie Shambley told Fox 4.

‘She has 15 great-great grand kids, 18 great-great-great grand kids and has two great-great-great-great grand kids.’

During her life Mrs Lanier has witnessed more than 20 presidents and lived through major events such as two world wars, the birth of flying and the right for women to vote.

‘She’s amazing – she’s just amazing to know,’ one family friend told Fox 4. ‘By her being 119, my friends and I – we range from 60 to 75 – we’re just youngsters.’

The claims come after Georgia great-great grandmother Besse Cooper was visited by Guinness World Records this month to certify her as the world’s oldest living person. Surrounded by family, 114-year-old Cooper accepted a plaque during a small ceremony at a Monroe nursing home. 

Record holder: Besse Cooper, 114, of Georgia, was verified as the world's oldest living person this month by Guinness

Record holder: Besse Cooper, 114, of Georgia, was verified as the world’s oldest living person this month by Guinness
WHEN SHE (Mrs. Lanier) WAS BORN…
  • Mrs Lanier was born in Mississippi in 1892, the year Grover Cleveland was elected to his second term as President
  • Wyoming had just been made a state, but Utah still was not and the U.S. population was around 63million
  • Most blacks did not vote as Mississippi had a $2 poll tax most could not afford
  • Only those who voted could serve on juries
  • General Electric was founded in 1892, but the Ford Motor company was still a decade away
  • Much of Mississippi depended on the cotton crops, which began to fail due to boll weevil infestation
  • She was born barely a year after the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre of Native Americans that saw 150 Indians killed

 

it is both

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there is no light without darkness… there is no darkness without light… everything is everything… my joy only runs as deep as my sorrow… it’s all good…

“Life is glorious, but life is also wretched. It is both.

Appreciating the gloriousness inspires us, encourages us, cheers us up, gives us a bigger perspective, energizes us. We feel connected. But if that’s all that’s happening, we get arrogant and start to look down on others, and there is a sense of making ourselves a big deal and being really serious about it, wanting it to be like that forever. The gloriousness becomes tinged by craving and addiction.

On the other hand, wretchedness–life’s painful aspect–softens us up considerably. Knowing pain is a very important ingredient of being there for another person. When you are feeling a lot of grief, you can look right into somebody’s eyes because you feel you haven’t got anything to lose–you’re just there. The wretchedness humbles us and softens us, but if we were only wretched, we would all just go down the tubes. We’d be so depressed, discouraged, and hopeless that we wouldn’t have enough energy to eat an apple.

Gloriousness and wretchedness need each other. One inspires us, the other softens us. They go together.”

Excerpted from “Start Where You Are”

by Pema Chödrön