ipl-logo

The Gift Of Years Essay

1440 Words6 Pages

The Gift of Years, is a book written in 2008 by Joan Chittister, a nun for fifty-years and author more than thirty-five books. The excerpt from this book is only five pages but they are five powerful pages that makes one think of their life and how we leave this Earth. Chittister writes about leaving a legacy but not the type modern society thinks of. She points out how many of us neglect to grow our spirit for the sake of material things and the time to find a new kind of strength. The end is near but it is only the beginning. Leaving behind a legacy is important to some people but what are they leaving is what counts. Chittister (2008) wrote, there is a big difference between leaving a legacy and leaving a “legacy” (Chittister, 2008). In …show more content…

218) I happen to agree with her statement, if one believes then it is never too late to grow closer to their GOD. As one gets latter in their lives, they have time to think about the past and how their life was lived. Some people use this time to relax, other take time out of everyday life and give back to their fellow man. Time keeps moving at the same rate as we slow down due to our age catching up to us. This does not mean that this last period of life is an inactive time, a meaningless time. We begin to understand things we never even contemplated before, like the meaning of time, the preeminence of beauty, the power of the touch of a hand (Chittister, 2008, p. 220). This sentence really touches my heart, I can recall the days leading up to my aunts death, were she stated that she wishes she had more time. Seeing old pictures of how we once look as a young person and now who we see in the mirror. For some it is hard getting old, knowing the end is right around the corner; for others they could think this is just closer to the beginning of something

Show More
Related
836 Words | 4 Pages

The Simple Gift has many transitions that contribute to each of the three characters. An exciting, transformative, confronting and challenging transition is seen through

Read More
1426 Words | 6 Pages

The Perils of Indifference Pg443- q.1-4 on pg447 Questions A) The meaning of this word ? he? is that he is using the third person for something that was about him. He starts his essays by telling the story of a young boy; the readers do not know who this boy is, this will make them curious, it will draw the attention.

Read More
925 Words | 4 Pages

The Era of Good Feelings, beginning in 1816 with the election of James Monroe as president, directly followed the War of 1812, was a time of nationalism, hope and and confidence in the United States. However, in the shadow of this national pride, different areas of the country began to shift apart in different ways, opening the door to domestic tension. The Era of Good Feeling was both a time of economic growth and political change for the country. This was caused by a surge in nationalistic feelings throughout the United States, as well as growing sectional tensions. The War of 1812 made the American people feel as though they should be aggressive in foreign affairs,which led to the introduction of a protective tariff and the Monroe Doctrine.

Read More
690 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout a person's life, they experience memorable events that may change their perspective on life. Furthermore, a person may even change completely because of witnessing a once-in-a-lifetime event. Annie Dillard’s essay “Total Eclipse” depicts a wife, accompanied by her husband, recalling past events of her travels across the country in order to observe a total eclipse. Dillard illustrates that people change their perspective once an event forces them to open their eyes and cherish life and all of its meaningful values. Annie Dillard mentions that “all those things for which we have no words are lost” (Dillard).

Read More
887 Words | 4 Pages

Our culture values youth and strength over the wisdom of the elderly. However, in Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path,” the reader gets a taste of how although youth vanishes, wisdom does not. In the story, an elderly woman named Phoenix travels the long journey to get medicine for her grandson, who died several years before the story begins. Her mind is failing, and when she meets other travelers as well as obstacles along the way, she stops to make conversation, even when the “traveler” turns out to be a scarecrow. She clearly made the journey many times before, as often her instinct is the only thing guiding her.

Read More
310 Words | 2 Pages

In the article “It’s Later Than You Think” author Sahil Bloom uses Pathos and Visuals to help show readers how short life truly is. In his article he talks through the story of when he made the realization about how much time he has wasted when his friend mentions he will only see his parents 15 more times. Bloom uses the writing move pathos to appeal to the emotions of the readers. Bloom also uses visuals throughout the article to create a feeling of sadness in readers and create a depressing mood throughout the article. The sadness he hopes to cause the readers is a ploy to ultimately motivate them to take advantage of the time they have left and not waste it thinking they have more.

Read More
1270 Words | 6 Pages

The Unjust Beast Injustice can occur in varying forms, depending on circumstance. Lord of the Flies by William Golding explores this topic, when a group of school-aged boys get stranded on an island with no adult supervision. When the younger boys (littluns) start talking about a beast that attacks at night, it leads the older boys (bigguns) on a search through the jungle to hunt the beast down. Their pursuit to find the beast leads to the bigguns running into conflicts with both themselves and this supposed beast. Through the characters of Ralph and Jack, Golding suggests that self respect can lead an individual to making just or unjust decisions.

Read More
629 Words | 3 Pages

The transition from the fantasy world of children to the adult world is “the beginning of sadness” (24). Although it is quite unusual to think that a ten-year-old would think this way, he recognizes that this transition

Read More
1603 Words | 7 Pages

It mainly discusses our lives from seventy to ninety. It goes on to say how those in their twilight years can be full of life and happy, however we will all slow down before death. As we age, we approach a space between Earth and eternity, and begin to dwell more in eternity. Often times this is in an end of life care facility: a hospital, nursing home, etc. At this point in our lives we are at our wisest.

Read More
997 Words | 4 Pages

Hellen Keller once said that, “Although the worlds is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” In Hellen Keller’s autobiography, The Story of My Life, she wrote about her experiences with learning as a person who was both blind and deaf. In this passage taken from her book, she described her transformation from a child who fought fervently against learning, to an individual who yearned to understand and describe the world around her. Keller presented her shift in the passaged as one that altered her perspective of every aspect of her life, and awakened a sense of happiness and fulfillment within her. She portrayed this change through devices that allowed the reader to closely follow her experiences and understand the emotions that she carried with her

Read More
551 Words | 3 Pages

In a single moment… I cannot tell you the exact day I left my dad or the exact day my grandparents passed away. I only remember the fragments of their lives that are engraved into my mind. My mind becomes a maze as I try to recall the exact day depicted in the photo. I can only recall mere seconds... I am a mere infant, snuggling into the smaller figure of my mother, with her long hair tied in a ponytail and jean skirt, as she stands behind a miniature version of my brother, still wearing a mountain of red curls on his head with an astonished expression etched into his puffy cheeks.. Standing next to my mother is my Grandfather, smiling with his clean bill of health and typical short sleeve shirt that screams its ready to sit by the ocean side, as he holds onto the handles of my grandmother’s wheelchair.

Read More
196 Words | 1 Pages

Annie Dillard’s essay “Sight into Insight” emphasizes how one must live in the moment and not sway towards others opinions in order to gain accurate observations on a situation. She uses nature as a prominent theme in her essay to represent the thought of looking past the superficial obvious in order to go deeper to where the hidden beauty rests. Dillard wants the reader to realize in order to observe clearly you have to live in the moment and let go of the knowledge you think you know on the situation. Dillard uses the example of her “walking with a camera vs walking without one” (para.31) and how her own observations differed with each. When she walked with the camera she “read the light” (para.31), and when she didn’t “light printed” (para.31).

Read More
544 Words | 3 Pages

A legacy is a person’s reactions to a name. For example, when someone hears my name, I want to be remembered as a hardworking, kind, and helpful peer. My legacy doesnt want to be negative, therefore striving to succeed in my eighth grade year is the best. If I were to leave a great legacy, I will have definitely impact the lives of many people.

Read More
1807 Words | 8 Pages

This paper describes and analyzes a life review interview with an older adult. The purpose of this paper is to discuss, record and reflect on an older adult’s life in order to evaluate them on the last stage of Erik Erickson’s theory of psychosocial development; integrity versus despair. This paper will also focus on the elements of a life review as well as the reflections of the interview on the part of the author. JC is a seventy-seven year old white male who lives by himself in New York City. He was born in London, England, and was an only child.

Read More
941 Words | 4 Pages

Lastly, Fleming mentions "And how much more kindness/ And love I can show/ Before the Lord tells me/ It 's my time to go". By incorporating this, she conveys that she is going to keep doing what she loves and helping people until the day she dies. Fleming brings forth her meaning to life as her love to her job and helping others.

Read More

More about The Gift Of Years Essay

Related Topics

Open Document