Praise Away!

Human beings are very complicated, don't you think? The older I get, the more I realize that we all have this deep personal hollow that needs to be filled. Henry Thoreau answered a friend's letter by telling him thanks for the compliment and to "praise away!" Every one of us needs to be loved and feel needed.

When Mother had Alzheimer's Disease she could get quite upset and nervous at times, and there was NO way to reason with her. I could talk myself blue in the face and it didn't help. Then I learned that a hug and few words of love was all she really wanted. She would calm down and lean heavily on my arm, totally delighted by the attention. Even though she had lost all reasoning ability, she never lost the emotional part of her being. She loved and wanted love till the end.

I find that we Americans sometimes hate to show our feelings, and we put up a tough front to protect that soft interior from harm. I think we are all alike in that regard. I guess the old American expression "You can catch more flies with sugar than with vinegar" would be an American way of saying what I mean.

Your friend in America, Sue