Today: Mend a quarrel…

Mom had some framed artwork with a piece called Today on it.  I presume it was lost in the 1993 fire, like 99.9999% of this kind of thing I ever think of.  I liked it.  It took a step or two down the path of glurge, but it was somber enough not to bother me too much in that vein.

I didn’t remember it all, but I remembered that the last line was “Speak it still once again,” and that seemed distinctive enough to lead me right to it on Google.

And so it was.  Here it is:

Today

Mend a quarrel. Search out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a love letter. Share some treasure. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in a word or deed.

Keep a promise. Find the time. Forego a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Listen. Apologize if you were wrong. Try to understand. Flout envy. Examine your demands on others. Think first of someone else. Appreciate. Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh a little more.

Deserve confidence. Take up arms against malice. Decry complacency. Express your gratitude. Worship your God. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth. Speak your love. Speak it again. Speak it still again. Speak it still once again.

–author unknown–

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8 thoughts on “Today: Mend a quarrel…”

  1. was that the one in calligraphy- If so, I tried to find enough pictures of it after the fire to recreate it. I might still be able to find all of the words for you if it is important to you. Let me know

    Reply
  2. ummmm, nevermind! I just read your post again. LOL Didn’t read the part that you found all of the words on google. Sorry

    Reply
  3. S’ok. 🙂 It might have been calligraphy, but I’m remembering a more Gothic font. The letters were dark gray, and the background was a very pale yellow; almost cream.

    Reply
  4. Last week I found in a Goodwill store a picture with On This Day letter framed and hand wrighting old old fram and yellowing from age. Cypress Texas

    Reply
  5. Many of Hunter’s quotes are attributed to him in the early to mid nineties (90’s)..
    AND
    the text of many of them has been shortened or altered.

    “On This Day” .. Mend a quarrel..

    was sent to me by my minister in the mid sixties (65-67) based on the papers I found with the original ‘hard-parchment’ text. One of the Copies I found was signed “with gratitude, Stuart M. Paterson”, who was the minister of the church where I grew up in Kansas City, Missouri.

    I’m confident of the approximate date, because in June of 1968, I left the Kansas City area for good to acquire advanced college degrees in Florida and begin employment in Texas .. maintaining no further contact with Dr. Paterson.

    I suspect Hunter found it, liked it.. (it meshed with his messages).. and shortened it for convenience.. and adapted it to his seasonal purposes for his messages.

    In some places it begins, “This year, mend a quarrel..”
    Another place, it begins, “This Christmas mend a quarrel..”
    None of Hunter’s versions include “Worship your God” or “Flout envy” or say “Speak your love..” 4 times in different ways,.

    I’m still searching for an earlier, reliable source for the text..

    Reply
    • Thank you for taking the time to respond so completely, Jim! I love how this post has become quite the assemblage of provenance for this piece and related ones. It is not something I expected.

      Reply

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