My mother had a horrific life. At fourteen, she was in the Nazi concentration camps. Her sense about life now is, every day above ground is a good day.
Interpretation
Every day is valuable and can be seen positively, especially after experiencing hardship.
This quote emphasizes the resilience and optimistic perspective of Gene Simmons' mother, who despite experiencing unimaginable trauma during her youth, has learned to appreciate life itself. It illustrates that even after enduring severe suffering, one can find joy and gratitude in simply being alive, reflecting a profound understanding of life's value.
In practice
In a speech about perseverance, one might quote Gene Simmons to remind the audience of the value of each day.
It's in the history books, the Holocaust. It's just a phrase. And the truth is it happened yesterday. It happened to my mother. I never met my grandfathers or my grandmothers. They were all wiped up in the gas chambers of Nazi Germany.
Life is like topography, Hobbes. There are summits of happiness and success, flat stretches of boring routine and valleys of frustration and failure.
There are all sorts of losses people suffer - from the small to the large. You can lose your keys, your glasses, your virginity. You can lose your head, you can lose your heart, you can lose your mind. You can relinquish your home to move into assisted living, or have a child move overseas, or see a spouse vanish into dementia. Loss is more than just death, and grief is the gray shape-shifter of emotion.
One thing that Life and I agreed right from the start was that one war photographer was enough for my family; I was to be a photographer of peace.
If you are not living with a whole heart now, the end of the world poses no threat; your life is already gone. Life is only as valuable as our presence to enjoy it. To miss the beauty of the moment because you are preparing to protect yourself from the next one, is to trade a precious gem for a cheap trinket.
I'm just trying to wake up - I'm so afraid of sleeping all my life and then dying - I want to wake up first. I wouldn't care if it was just for an hour, as long as I was properly alive and awake.
Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy.
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