Tag: Oscar Wilde

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #8,089

yeah I know you did not ask!

Florida is the American state with the highest percentage of retirees.  While folks can retire from the work-a-day world at an early age, most commonly do so in their 60s.  This obviously implies that there are a lot of old geezers in the Sunshine State.

There is an Oscar Wilde quote based on the venerable adage, “With age comes wisdom.” The complete Wilde quote is “With age comes wisdom, but sometimes age comes alone.”

Given the gawd awful politicians that Florida voters keep electing to national and state offices, I do believe Oscar had it right.  There is not a lot of wisdom in Florida’s selection of politicians.  I frequently wonder what is in the water down there, or what they are smoking.

And so it goes.

 

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Oscar Wilde – His Life and Confessions by Frank Harris

Oscar_Wilde_His_Life_and_Confessions_1004Oscar Wilde is best known for his quips, quotes and aphorisms, at least to me.  The Importance of Being Ernest gave to me my first real appreciation of plays.  It is a light, comic romp full of misdirection and subtle and not so subtle puns.  For various reasons I have seen the play three times over the years.  The Picture of Dorian Gray is a classic of this epoch.  The novel also in many ways led to his downfall.  While he wrote the book before his fall from grace I found The Picture of Dorian Gray metaphorically autobiographical of his entire life.  In the end Oscar Wilde ended up destroying himself.  The book raised the rancor of  puritanical 1890 England due to its homoerotic theme, and allusions of an underworld of what was then considered deviant behavior.

I knew Oscar was gay(in the modern sense of the word) and had gone to jail for two years for this “crime”.  However, I had always pictured him as this bon vivant, a social gadfly.  The Oscar I discovered in this book Continue reading “Oscar Wilde – His Life and Confessions by Frank Harris”

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The Quotable Juanita

My father passed away 5 years ago February 19th. He had a massive stroke back around 1996. He basically cheated death at that time, and my mother always referred to the ensuing years as “their bonus” years. And they were.

Even though he had been in poor health for many years it is still a shock when your partner of 50 plus years dies. My mother was cast adrift in her grief for a considerable period of time. Fortunately, time is frequently the best doctor in these situations, and life does go on.

At some point when she began to feel better and get out and about, she ran into a female acquaintance. Of course, they begin to chat. It would not have been my mother otherwise. This lady begin to tell my mother how good she looked, and how much younger than her years that she appeared. I think there was a comment in there about how fresh and youthful her skin appeared. She then asked my mother who was 70 something at the time, if she had thought about getting remarried.

My mother’s remark back to her was, “It is one thing to grow old with a man; it would be quite another thing to marry an old man.”

Y’all just thought Oscar Wilde had some pithy quotes.