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Some inspiration quotes and stories including several variations of the essay, "If I Had My Life Over - I'd Pick More Daisies."
a grown up elephant can pick up a ton with its trunk. why is it that, at the circus, these huge animals quietly stand tied to a small wooden stake? while the elephant is still a child and not nearly as strong, the circus ties it by a heavy chain to a fixed deeply ingrained iron stake. it tries to break the chain but soon discovers that no matter how hard it tries, it can't break free. so it stops trying. and as the elephant grows and becomes strong, it never again tries to break loose. i guess it doesn't think it can.
i went to the woods because i wanted to live deliberately. i wanted to live deep and suck the marrow out of life. to put to rout all that was not life, and not, when i had come to die, discover that i had not lived. ~ henry david thoreau
What follows is, according to Benjamin Rossen, a copy of the earliest verifiable publication of this material. It can be found in the Reader's Digest, October 1953 issue, where it was attributed to Don Herold (1889-1966), author and humorist. CITATION: http://www.iae.nl/users/rossen/
Of course, you can't unfry an egg, but there is no law against thinking about it.
If I had my life to live over, I would try to make more mistakes. I would relax. I would be sillier than I have been this trip. I know of very few things that I would take seriously. I would be less hygienic. I would go more places. I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers. I would eat more ice cream and less bran.
I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary troubles. You see, I have been one of those fellows who live prudently and sanely, hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I have had my moments. But if I had it to do over again, I would have more of them - a lot more. I never go anywhere without a thermometer, a gargle, a raincoat and a parachute. If I had it to do over, I would travel lighter.
It may be too late to unteach an old dog old tricks, but perhaps a word from the unwise may be of benefit to a coming generation. It may help them to fall into some of the pitfalls I have avoided.
If I had my life to live over, I would pay less attention to people who teach tension. In a world of specialization we naturally have a superabundance of individuals who cry at us to be serious about their individual specialty. They tell us we must learn Latin or History; otherwise we will be disgraced and ruined and flunked and failed. After a dozen or so of these protagonists have worked on a young mind, they are apt to leave it in hard knots for life. I wish they had sold me Latin and History as a lark.
I would seek out more teachers who inspire relaxation and fun. I had a few of them, fortunately, and I figure it was they who kept me from going entirely to the dogs. From them I learned how to gather what few scraggly daisies I have gathered along life's cindery pathway.
If I had my life to live over, I would start barefooted a little earlier in the spring and stay that way a little later in the fall. I would play hooky more. I would shoot more paper wads at my teachers. I would have more dogs. I would keep later hours. I'd have more sweethearts. I would fish more. I would go to more circuses. I would go to more dances. I would ride on more merry-go-rounds. I would be carefree as long as I could, or at least until I got some care- instead of having my cares in advance.
More errors are made solemnly than in fun. The rubs of family life come in moments of intense seriousness rather that in moments of light-heartedness. If nations - to magnify my point - declared international carnivals instead of international war, how much better that would be!
G.K. Chesterton once said, "A characteristic of the great saints is their power of levity. Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly. One 'settles down' into a sort of selfish seriousness; but one has to rise to a gay self-forgetfulness. A man falls into a 'brown study'; he reaches up at a blue sky."
In a world in which practically everybody else seems to be consecrated to the gravity of the situation, I would rise to glorify the levity of the situation. For I agree with Will Durant that "gaiety is wiser than wisdom."
I doubt, however, that I'll do much damage with my creed. The opposition is too strong. There are too many serious people trying to get everybody else to be too darned serious.
When I was in high school,I'd carry with me this very small notebook discreetly in my pocket. When society was getting to be too much, I could read the reflections I'd somehow recorded. Some reflections were mine and some were inspirations I read elsewhere.
I carried with me another version of this essay. I must admit, I was disappointed to discover the version I read like a mantra wasn't the true essay. What I had learned was a far more beautiful version than the one above. But in some ways it's not so disappointing. There have been so many versions, it's hard to call one the true essay. And maybe that's because 'pickings more daises' isn't merely a universal truth.
It's a personal truth.
And if this tale is a personal truth, I feel like I can remember parts from one person, parts from another, and parts from my own life.
So, here is my adaptation from the original work by Don Herold and all the other people who were inspired enough to recast it as their own.
~ Madeline
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