THE MOMENT OF DRIVER’S LICENSE TRUTH
THE MOMENT OF DRIVER’S LICENSE TRUTHNot long ago, I had to renew my driver’s license, and when the new one came, I was pleasantly surprised. Compared to my picture on the one of four years ago, I had IMPROVED! The explanation wasn’t difficult. Four years before I was so tight in the wringer and so far off in zombieland, and what one of my friends calls “the twilight zone,” any picture of me had to reflect the shock I was in from coping with my family’s problems.Perhaps you’ve known the embarrassment of pulling out your driver’s license for identification and watching the person stare at the picture and then at you. That person is wondering, Is this really you? Of course, you stumble around explaining why your driver’s license picture failed to show all your “true beauty.” That’s the typical experience, but in my case I had looked so bad on the prior license that the new one was actually flattering. That was a day that made my heart smile indeed!Applying for that new driver’s license did remind me, however, of the changes the years can bring. The typical driver’s license application has spaces where you fill in your eye color, hair color, weight, etc. Isn’t it strange that women leave their weight the same as it was when they originally got their driver’s license at the age of sixteen? And why is it that some men have a license they got years ago that says, “Hair: Brown,” when their hair has long since disappeared and they’re totally bald?Tell me, have you ever seen a driver’s license that had accurate information? What about people who have one brown eye and one blue one?—there is no space for that on the driver’s license. Or how about women who have “convertible tops”; that is, they change the color of their hair so often, only their hairdresser knows for sure, and some weeks she’s wondering.Yes, the years can bring many changes, and it is often said that, as we grow older, we develop something called “hardening of the attitudes.” There is no space on a driver’s license for filling in the condition of one’s attitudes. But all you have to do is get out on the freeways, and you’ll quickly learn that a lot of people have become hardened, and then some!I don’t want that said of me. In fact, the following poem by an anonymous poet is my daily prayer.ON GETTING OLDERLord, Thou knowest me better than I know myself, that I am growing older and will someday be old. Keep me from getting talkative, and particularly from the fatal habit of thinking I must say something on every subject and on every occasion. Release me from craving to try to straighten out everybody’s affairs.Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details, and give me wings to get to the point. I ask for grace enough to listen to the tales of others; help me to endure them with patience, but seal my lips on my own aches and pains. They are increasing and my love of rehearsing them is increasing as the years go by. Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally it is possible that I may be mistaken.Keep me reasonably sweet; I do not want to be a saint— some of them are so hard to live with—but a sour old woman or man is one of the crowning works of the devil.Make me thoughtful, but not moody; helpful, but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it all; but Thou knowest, Lord, that I want a few friends at the end.
A “few friends at the end” is all you can really hope for. Obviously, your best friend should be the Lord, but you do want some others, too. In recent years, a lot of books have been written about friendship—how to find friends, how to be a friend, and while I haven’t written any books on friendship myself, I do think I know the secret.*55\316\2* safedrugstock.com
