“‘Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the Lord.
- Proverbs 19:32
Teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
- Psalm 90:12
The New Boilerplate
My wife filled a small book with “Angel” on the cover. It was hidden with a box of crafting things. On 18 July 2025, I thought I had posted the last of these. But this little angel book held a prayer, followed by 71 quotes. So, the “with a little help” series is back in business for a while. And it will be fun for me. She did not attribute any of the quotes. The first quote was from James A. Garfield, the 20th president of the USA. The next one was disputed, with some thinking it originated with Teddy Roosevelt and others saying Fred Astaire. After the prayer, these might be on the lighter side.
Her quote
“At fifty everyone has the face they deserve.”
- George Orwell
“Alas, after a certain age, every man is responsible for his face.”
- Albert Camus
“At 20 everyone has the face that God gave them, at 40 the face that life gave them, and at 60 the face they earned.”
- Albert Schweitzer
The Discussion
George Orwell (1903-1950) was an English novelist, essayist, and critic. His most famous novels were Animal Farm and 1984. He was not a Christian. In one of his criticisms of the works of C.S. Lewis, maybe the Narnian Chronicles, he stated something along the line of how it almost passed as good literature if Lewis had simply left God out of it.
Albert Camus (1913-1960), pronounced camoo, was a French philosopher and writer. He dabbled in existentialism mostly, but also absurdism and a French version of the writings of Nietzsche. He was a Nobel Laureate in literature.
Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) was a German polymath, focusing mostly in Music, Theology, and Medicine. He developed a theology that Paul was calling for a form of mysticism when he talked of being “in Christ.” I do not follow his arguments in that regard. He founded a hospital in present day Gabon. With his wife as his anesthetist, he ran the hospital, performed surgery, and ministered to people who often walked great distances to see the doctor. When his wife’s illness prevented her to remain in Africa, they returned to Germany, in the Black Forest.
I included all three quotes, since the internet equivocated on whether one was the quote and the others were copied and modified. At any rate, my wife had copied the George Orwell version.
But I lean toward the Albert Schweitzer version a little.
In my youth, my nose was broken twice. The third bit of nose breakage occurred when a young adult during Army training. Then the rest of my life I just aged like good cheese. Okay, definitely not good wine…
My wife was always beautiful in my eyes. The engineer comedian, Don Mc Millan, said that the married man’s eyesight gets worse along the same path of his wife getting older. Maybe that explains it.
But God was kind to her. She had vitiligo for the last couple of decades of her life. When this immune disorder took the pigment out of her arms, it left leopard spots. But when she lost the pigment in her face, it all went at once. She had to be careful to avoid the sun. She would not tan, but sun exposure was very painful for her.
But thinking of the post three weeks ago in this time slot, I prefer what Schweitzer said, we earn this face and the wrinkles that come with it. Some people do not have the opportunity of getting old.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory
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