Many will say that life is hard, difficult, miserable, and full of pain. Yet I beg to differ. It is about learning to embrace both the ugliness and the happiness in all that is and exists in our universe and our World. The ability to know that logic does not go with everything and that we should be easy on ourselves with failures and continue to be patient with others around us is very important. Many times spirituality is more important than money but money is a representation of energy in people and resources surrounding us. Many like to complain about getting older as if getting older meant that they were getting worse. Once again this is just a figment of our imaginations and our perspective weighing down on us. Getting older should mean getting wiser and we should also learn from those less fortunate as time goes on for they teach us very good lessons in life. We are more similar than we are different. As a World more than before each one of us should find our purpose and meaning in life and strive for what makes us feel fullfilled.
A woman who reached this sense of fullfillment before she died was a woman named Harriet Richardson Ames who was awarded a Bacheolor's degree at age 100 before she died. This exemplifies true ability and Mrs. Ames was located in Concord, New Hampshire and was respected by all of her colleagues for being loving and caring to them. Back in 1931 Ames was awarded a two year teaching certificate from Keene Normal School which is now known as Keene State College. She was a teacher for twenty years in a one room schoolhouse in Newbury, New Hampshire and in Pittsfield as well.
Ames went to the University of New Hampshire and Plymouth Teachers College, and also Keene State. Due to failing eyesight she stopped taking classes in 1971 and was not sure if she had enough credits in order to receive a college Bacheolor's degree. Ames had wished for a degree and this realization became true when a Keene State film professor interviewed her for a piece on the college's centennial which was celebrated in 2009. After research into whether or not Ames could receive her college diploma it was found out that she indeed could and did the day before she died on January 25th, 2010.
Norma Walker of the Golden Circle Society which is an Alumni group for classes that graduated fifty or more years ago said of Ames that, "She wanted to be the best that she could be." Ames when knowing that she could receive her college diploma said, "'If I die tomorrow, I'll know I'll die happy, because my degree's in the works.'" Ames died happy for teaching students how to read and for being caring, loving, and compassionate for others as well as receiving her college degree the day before she died. That to me is true ability and was done at the age of one hundred years old. The spirit is infinite and the body is limited. We should all know that age is only a number and like disability is not something that should define us.
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