"WHOM THE GODS LOVE."
Sir-In the BBC Brains Trust session from 1YA recently, the usual interpretation of "Whom the gods love die young" was given, young being taken to mean young in years. If that were the correct interpretation it would be reasonable to suggest that if the gods were a bit tardy it would be prudent to seek
one’s own demise while still young in years and consequently in their favour. Surely, on the contrary, it is one’s duty to live out one’s allotted span, however long it may be, and young in years is not to be understood, but young in spirit. All start out young in years and in spirit, but individual experiences in life and our interpretation of them, sooner or later, blight the youth of spirit in most of us and we leave it behind for maturity and senility of spirit. Ageing in spirit,.therefore, is independent of ageing in years. One is the more fortunate the longer in life one can retain youth of spirit, most people losing it before death. Only the fortunate few whom the gods love die young, though attaining the 84 years of the questioner. These few must have arrived, consciously or unconsciously, at a way of life that works right up to the end. My observation of those it has been my good fortune to know, who are old in years, but young in spirit, is that in addition to the attributes of unwarped childhood which they display, they also retain a lifelong interest in the rising generation.
A. G.
GOULTER
(Kaitieke)
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19480220.2.14.8
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 452, 20 February 1948, Page 16
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262"WHOM THE GODS LOVE." New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 452, 20 February 1948, Page 16
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