Instead of writing about stocks, bonds and money as Christmas nears, I devote today's column to several pieces that I feel are appropriate for this season:
This first piece is a Christmas message that I found in an old magazine (in a dentist's office, naturally) many years and many teeth ago:
"This Christmas, mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a love letter. Share some treasure. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. Keep a promise. Find the time. Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Listen. Apologize if you were wrong. Try to understand. Flout envy. Examine your demands on others.
"Think first of someone else. Appreciate. Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh a little. Laugh a little more. Deserve confidence. Take up arms against malice. Decry complacency. Express your
gratitude. Go to church. Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the Earth. Speak your love. Speak it again. Speak it once again."
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Next, "Desiderata," by Max Ehrmann, found in 1927 in a pew of Old St. Paul's Church, at Charles and Saratoga streets.
"Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others you may become vain and bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
"Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.
"Take kindly to the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. Do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesale discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.
"And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a wonderful world."
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Finally, some Christmas "workplace gifts" to give all year long:
Smile at a co-worker you don't especially like. . . . Give a newcomer a shoulder to lean on (remember when you were a newcomer?). . . . Call on a retired worker who may be lonely. . . . Tell the cafeteria cook how good the beef stew was. . . . Bring the night watchman a ham-and-cheese sandwich. . . . In the cafeteria, let someone in line ahead of you. There'll be plenty of food.
If a friend or co-worker has a baby, buy a U.S. Savings Bond with the baby's birth date stamped on it, a valuable souvenir in later years. . . . Offer to take an elderly co-worker home on a snowy night. . . . Tell someone who has lost weight, "You sure look good." . . . Slip $10 to the telephone operator occasionally; operators take a lot of abuse. . . . When a subordinate complains, take it seriously. . . . Take a client to breakfast and tell him or her how much you appreciate the year's business.
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Closing holiday thought from "Bits & Pieces": "The problem with doing things to prolong your life is that all the extra years come at the end, when you are old. So enjoy now." Merry Christmas, everybody!