a single sheet of notepaper, on which Charlie had boiled 109 years into an operating code of life

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Among Charlie’s things after he was gone, his family found a single sheet of notepaper, on which Charlie had boiled 109 years into an operating code of life. He filled the sheet front and back in flowing ballpoint pen, writing in definitive commands. Among them:

Think freely. Practice patience. Smile often. Forgive and seek forgiveness.

Feel deeply. Tell loved ones how you feel.

Be soft sometimes. Cry when you need to. Observe miracles.

— David Von Drehle, “My neighbor lived to be 109. This is what I learned from him.” From The Washington Post · May 22, 2023.  This essay was adapted from “The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old Man,” by David Von Drehle

I encourage you to read the entire essay here.

30 thoughts on “a single sheet of notepaper, on which Charlie had boiled 109 years into an operating code of life”

  4. Thanks Dave! Great article and reinforces how we need to assess our paths! Encourage all to view the following link to the School Of Practical Philosophy where I have recently taken some online courses in the application of philosophy and Stoicism. Encouraged and enjoyed!

    https://philosophyworks.org/courses/

    1. Thanks for sharing. Sounds like the School has a very worthy cause and mission: “Since its founding in New York in 1964, The School of Practical Philosophy has sought to communicate what humanity’s great teachers have told us about our true nature, our purpose in the creation, and how we might live a happy, full, and useful life.”

      1. Thanks! The courses have been insightful for me, as was the article you posted.

        Steve

  6. We make it far more complicated than it needs to be…I want to follow his advice (regardless of how many times i get in my own way 😉)

  10. Dang it! Because of you, I’m going to bed way later than I planned. Of course, since I actually had access to the Washington Post essay, I had to read it (in case by tomorrow it was no longer accessible!) I’ll be adding that book, methinks.

          1. Impossible to catch everything but a nice recommendation helps with the selection process!

  12. “Then, if we live long enough, we might soften into the second stage and become simplifiers. For all the books on all the shelves of all the world’s libraries, life must in the end be lived as a series of discrete moments and individual decisions. What we face might be complicated, but what we do about it is simple.”

    So loved this, David. Wow.
    For sit down to read anything in weeks.

    Stoicism, highly underrated.

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