You don't give up skydiving because you grow old. Youth is not a timeof life - it is a state of mind, it is a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over love of ease. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years;people grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years wrinkle the skin, but to give up entusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair - these are the long years that that bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust. Whether sixteen or seventy, there is in every beings heart the love of wonder. the sweet amazement at the stars and star like things and thoughts, the undaunted challenge of events, the unfailing child-like appetite for what is next, and the joy and the game of life. You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt, as your self -confidence, as ols as your fear, as young as your hope, as old as your self-confidence as old as your fear, as young as your hope ans as old as your despair. So long as your heart receives messages of beauty, cheer, courage,grandeur and power from the earth, from man to man and from the Infinite. You will be forever young. |