Wednesday, April 8, 2009

No matter what happens to you, what you remember is up to you

I've never heard about Matthew Buckley before but when I was browsing, I found one of his quotes from his book and I like it.

"One of the secrets of life is to find joy in the journey." "But Grandma, you weren't on *this* journey. It was just crazy--" Grandma held up her hand. "You have six brothers. You got to spend a whole day in the car with them. You're all healthy, well fed, happy... Someday, when you're a little older, I'll bet you'd give anything to be back in that van of yours with all of your brothers, smelly diapers and all." I mulled that over.

"Well what about Dad?" I pointed out. "He didn't find any joy in the journey. He was yelling at trees." Grandma sat back, "Your father and mother are masters at finding joy in the journey." I didn't understand. Grandma continued, "Do you really think your parents would have had seven kids if they couldn't find joy in the journey?... I would be willing to wager that he'll be laughing about this trip on Monday morning with his friends at work."

Grandma took my hands into hers. "There are a lot of people in this life that will try to convince you that they're selling something that will bring you joy. The simple fact of the matter is that *things* don't bring you joy. You have to find joy in life experience. And if you take along somebody you love, then that journey is going to be all the more enjoyable. "I can promise you right now that both good and bad things are going to happen to you in your life. Good and bad things happen to evrybody. Some people are good at finding the miserable things in life, and some are good at finding the joy. No matter what happens to you, what you remember is up to you."" — Matthew Buckley (Chickens in the Headlights)

2 comments:

Marion Jensen said...

Glad you like the quote. It's one of my favorite scenes in the book. But then again, I'm a little biased. :)

boya arsila said...

I really like it..looking forward to see your writings=)