Wrinkles
General Douglas MacArthur, with his corncob pipeImage courtesy Wikimedia Commons
I wrote the following quotation in my Commonplace book a few years ago and wanted to learn a little more about it.
‘Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.’
Samuel Ullman (1840 – 1924)
These lines come from Ullman’s poem ‘Youth’, written when he was 78. It was a favourite poem of General Douglas MacArthur, who was deputed to oversee the rebuilding of Japan after the end of WWII.
When he was appointed Supreme Allied Commander in Japan from 1945 to 1951 he had a copy of the poem on his office wall. It became very familiar to the Japanese, who admired the General and his diligent work routine. MacArthur regularly quoted from the poem in his speeches, which inspired a nation occupied in rebuilding their ravaged country.
From Birmingham Historical Society:
‘In 1945, Reader’s Digest published the poem and reported that MacArthur posted the poem in his office. Yoshio Okasa, a Japanese businessman, upon reading the article, was inspired to create a beautiful and moving translation in Japanese and display it in his offices. The popularity of “Youth” in Japan soared. Many carried folded-up copies of the poem in their pockets and wallets.
In 1985, the Youth Association was formed in Tokyo. Its corporate and individual members across Japan are encouraged to study “Youth” and the writings of other philosophers and to share the joy and hope expressed in the poem.
Writing in 1992, Jiro M. Miyazawa, who wanted to share the message of the poem and who had distributed more than 10,000 copies across Japan, stated: “Japan has been completely rebuilt since the devastation of World War II. I believe Samuel Ullman’s poem ‘Youth’ played a part in this process by sustaining the Japanese mind with its inspiring message.’
YOUTH
Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.
Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than a boy of twenty. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.
Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.
Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing, child-like appetite of what’s next, and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the infinite, so long are you young.
When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at twenty, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at eighty.
In 2020, Birmingham Historical Society published an article about Samuel Ullman.
Do you know that Laura Ingall Wilder's Little House books were very popular in Japan during that same time frame?
ReplyDeleteThat's extraordinary. I wonder what it was that so appealed to them.
DeleteReading that last passage made me think immediately of my own P. It seems to fit him to a T.
ReplyDeleteForever young . . .
DeleteI agree, youth is a state of mind. I am always 30, until I get home and the aching starts, then I am my true age while I rest and recover.
ReplyDeleteI'm getting older. I always used to be 21, now I'm 35, sadly only in my mind. Reality is a hard taskmaster!
DeleteThat's a very nice poem and a nice way to think. I am pleased I have a good memory of my youth. Sometimes I wonder if my partner has completely forgotten his and our early years together. I say to him, 'Stop. Think what you were like when you were young'.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in my twenties I worked with a woman long gone now and was a waitress at Melbourne's Victoria Barracks and General MacArthur was there for a few days during the botheration in the early forties. She served him his meal for a couple of nights and stated to us, 'He was the nastiest most arrogant man I had ever served. After a couple of days of his rudeness, I accidently spilt hot soup on him'. She sat with pursed lips and a great expression of self satisfaction, while we laughed.
Oh, dear, how sad it is when those who have been idolised show their feet of clay.
DeleteWonderful. Thanks for introducing me to Samuel Ullman 's poem. I'd never heard it before. Just a little concerned that 'old' is this poem is apparently age sixty!
ReplyDeleteCheers, Gail.
What is said now? 'Sixty is the new forty.'
DeleteThought provoking. Interesting fact from Debby too - I love the Little House books.
ReplyDeleteAlison in Wales x
It's a philosophy to try and live by. x x x
DeleteI fully agree with you ! Some people are born "old" and don't know what the joy of living is (joie de vivre) and others like my resident friend who approaches 100 years us full of humor and she never complains and the other who still loves dancing and joking at 96 and deplores that we haven't known each other earlier to go out together ! She has some difficulties to walk, but when it comes to dancing, she is amazing !
ReplyDeleteA sense of humour is essential to keep the spirit young. Your friends are fine examples of that and so are you:-)
DeleteOne thing l believe..and have always believed....
ReplyDeleteYour age is between yer ears....if you don't
have a positive and sound mental attitude...
"Your Dead"....Period..! :(.
"We don't stop laughing because we grow old....
We grow old because we stop laughing".
"Every day may not be good...But there is
something good in every day".
"Yesterday is history, tomorrow's a mystery,
to~day is a gift..That's why it's called the
present".
💛🌱🌸🌱💜💛🌱🌸🌱💜💛🌱🌸🌱💜
There are too many gloom and doom-mongers - they must be hell to live with.
Delete".Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust." I like this quotation very much! I can see the truth in it. The practice of it is another thing!
ReplyDeleteAll we can do is keep on practising!
DeleteThat quotation is so true and thank you for sharing that wonderful poem! xxx
ReplyDeleteIt's something for all of us to ponder.x x x
DeleteAnother excellent read, thank you.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great quotation too.
All the best Jan
It's a motto we could all adopt, I think. It's too easy to be complacent and accepting and not challenge ourselves in one way or another.
DeleteA wonderful article and one I was very interested in. Not too far from where my in-laws lived, there was a McArthur Memorial and a museum I remember visiting in Norfolk, Virginia. Great quotes! I will show this to my husband. Thanks so much for writing it.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed it, Denise.
ReplyDeleteSome great truths in that poem.
ReplyDeleteIndeed there are.
Delete