Untongued Stories

If we live long enough, we will lose friends more quickly than we make new ones.  The energy of youth and the many new things that come with growing up, bring new people into one’s life and we have the energy to give over to forming friendships.  The elderly lack that energy or new movement but do have the insight to cherish their friendships and to give them time, especially in this Covid-19 era, when time is looking for something with which to fill it up.  One of the ways we honor friendship, living or dead in body, is in telling and retelling stories.  When younger, we might tell stories that embarrass one another, being that youth is more competitively and ego-focused.  But with age, we cherish the goodness in people more and more, forgetting uneven past events.  I think stories are the way we honor people, stories of their specialness, in themselves and to others.  The telling of these stories are Good News, Gospel, examples to follow, or at least admire.  So don’t have “Untongued Stories” of friends.  It does us all a disservice.  Keep the goodness in view and up front.  The darkness has no problem in taking center stage.