Be My Valentine

There is no better way

Than Saint Valentine’s Day

To remember that Love’s not a Dream.

If you’re young or you’re old

It’s so nice to be told

You are special and highly esteemed!

Written by Alexandra Taylor for AgeEsteem®

Saint Valentine

The ever Saintly Valentine

Is a special friend of mine;

He has the gifts which come with time

(the ones which are so hard to rhyme!)

Such thoughtfulness and love and care,

And generosity to spare.

He’s ageless and esteemed the way

He keeps hearts full on his own day.

I always feel so very merry

On that date in February!

Written by Alexandra Taylor for AgeEsteem®

Valentine collage by Bonnie Fati0

Today is celebrated as Thanksgiving Day in several countries of the world.  But isn’t every day a day of thanksgiving?  We have so much to be thankful for !  Even on the days that seem to be grey and dismal when we want to complain, we can be thankful that we are capable of complaining.  It means that we realize that life could be better and that we still have higher aspirations than just what today may bring.

Gratitude is an important facet of age esteem.  Gratitude, feeling thankful because we recognize our blessings, is key to feeling good about yourself at the age you are today.   What are you thankful for?

I am thankful to be capable of thinking and learning.

I am thankful for my sight, that makes it possible to bask in the beauty of nature.

I am thankful for my hearing and to enjoy laughter and the rustling of leaves.

I am thankful for my arms that make it possible to hug.

I am thankful for my voice and being able to express my thoughts aloud.

I am thankful to feel emotions, especially love.

I am thankful to smell the freshness of the air after a storm.

I am thankful for Age Esteem.

I am thankful for family and friends.

I am thankful for those without names who have touched my life.

I am thankful for those who share their goodness.

I am thankful for YOU.

Bonnie Fatio

As a child growing up in Parchment, Michigan, I remember our community adopting a refugee family from Latvia.  We were fascinated to think that they had to learn our language and way of living and we were eager to understand their stories and customs.  After we left Parchment, my path never seemed to join that of refugees again nor did the word come into conversations until I came to Geneva, Switzerland.

When Mrs. Sadako Ogata became the High Commissioner (1991-2000) of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), I was privileged to serve on a council of local leaders who she invited to become involved with the UNHCR in order to promote a realistic understanding  of both the plight and contributions of refugees within the Swiss and international communities.    Mrs. Ogata personally moved us to understand the multiple issues at play.   When you are forced out of your home with only the clothes on your back and join the hundreds of thousands seeking refuge in the UNHCR camps, you are grateful that such an organization exists with the extensive logistics behind it.  And yet, your deepest hope is to return to your own home.

The most moving picture that I can share to represent the plight of the refugee is an event planned for the 50th anniversary of the UNHCR in Geneva.  Thousands of floating candles were placed in the Rhone River that flows out of Lake Geneva.  It wasn’t possible to represent the 40 million refugees in the world, but the image was moving.  As the candles floated, some would capsize and disappear, others would break off in little clusters and then split up once again, while yet others would find themselves alone with their light flickering.  It is a picture that stays with me as I think of what trials refugees experience and the courage they prove.

As we look at the meaning of Age Esteem, I believe that refugees offer us an important lesson.  No matter where we go, what trials we meet, the obstacles in our path or the need to leave the past behind and move on we will have to count on our own inner resources to meet each new day with hope and the understanding that what is most important is within us.  Refugees such as Einstein and Madelaine Albright who have had only their know-how and will power as baggage teach us a powerful lesson.  We too can contribute our skills and knowledge to make this a better world with however little we may have.

Geneva is home to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) established in 1951 to give legal, social, economic, and political aid to refugees. The UNHCR is the successor of the International Refugee Organization whose first efforts focused on Europeans displaced by World War II.  It has since assisted refugees in multiple countries globally. It is financed by voluntary government contributions. The office won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1954 and 1981.

Today we honor fathers and other father figures – grandfathers, uncles, Godfathers, and male mentors who have had a positive influence on our lives.

Studies show that women who become leaders have often been encouraged and guided their father as well as mother.  They have had fathers who took a strong, active interest in them.

Certainly my own father was such a person.  I will be forever thankful for his interest, guidance, love and encouragement.

I hope that you, too, have a father figure you are thankful for as we honor fathers on Father’s Day.

Bonnie Fatio

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY !

Today Age Esteem celebrates each of you. – Mothers, aunts, Godmothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, sisters and friends.

We are thankful that you have nurtured, loved, guided, prodded, mentored, and led another to grow into a better person and to become independent and capable of loving and nurturing others.

Being a mother or a mother figure in the life of another person is one of the most precious roles life offers.

I am forever grateful for the women, known and unknown, who have grown me into the woman I am and continue to accompany me on my journey.

Thank You!

Bonnie Fatio

HAVE A HAPPY AND BLESSED EASTER AND PASSOVER

Today you are honored as a woman!  This is the 100th anniversary of the first International Women’s Day, a perfect opportunity to honor women and girls of all ages.

This is a day to celebrate womanhood, sisterhood, and friendships.  It is a day to pay tribute to those who have gone before us and have helped pave the way, rejoice in those who are near to us and encourage the women and girls who follow.

In a recent speech, First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama said  “We should always have three friends in our lives – one who walks ahead who we look up to and follow; one who walks beside us, who is with us every step of our journey; and then, one who we reach back for and bring along after we’ve cleared the way. “   This is what International Women’s Day is all about.

Happy 100th International Women’s Day!

Bonnie Fatio

My wish to you on this Valentine’s Day is that you be your own Valentine and love yourself as much as you love others.  Be your own Valentine this year!

Bonnie Fatio