Thank you for your thoughts, dear Chip! They correspond with my experience. What you can’t know yet: it’s getting even better with every day that passes. Believe an 81-year-old! 🙂

Thank you, dear Rose! I have just now come across your words when I was feeling down at a time with much political discussion of a kind that tends to make one feel depressed… I feel uplifted. Being of the teaching profession, I will pass on the spirit!

Thank you, Ursula. With the phrase ‘pay it forward!’ the English language has an advantage. Yes, with young people we could well use ‘Pay it forward!’ For non-speakers of English we might say ‘Tu dafür auch du was Gutes!’

Thank you, Rick, for a very inspiring story. “Pay it forward!” In English you have this useful phrase – in German we lack an equivalent. I am going to think about one which could be spread…

Thank you, Elaine. I experienced the same 27 years ago. An image came to me then. While at first I felt as if my heart had been ripped out of me, I later had the vision that my husband had left half of his within me, and together with my own half I still had a beating heart that was unbroken.