The Senility Prayer

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
 The courage to change the things I can,
 And wisdom to know the difference.”

The first known appearance of this short prayer is in a 1943 sermon by the American Christian theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971).  It is popularly known as the Serenity Prayer.

Recently, I found a copy of a parody of the Serenity Prayer called the Senility Prayer.  As an aging person myself, I found the prayer to be amusing.  I am aware that it is not a Christian prayer.

“Grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do, and the eyesight to tell the difference.”