OLD & WISE

Notes of Concern…
                               …Jackson Blair


                                                                              OLD & WISE



When Andy Rooney passed recently at age 92, just a month after signing off on “60 Minutes” I found myself dwelling on the aging process.  It almost seemed as if Andy went as long as he could and when faced with the necessity of quitting his regular “gig” he just faded away.

I would have loved to hear what Andy might have said about this. Can you imagine the words and the humor he would have wrapped around one of life’s real experiences, one we will all face one day.

Unfortunately, we will never know. I am certain, however, he would have echoed what many think about aging in general and aging in America in particular.

Shortly after Andy’s passing my wife and I were enjoying dinner with two other couples of similar age. The conversation dealt with a lot of things we didn’t like that were happening in our world and a lot of nostalgic remembering of when things seemed better to us.

When I was a youngster I know I had a pretty well formed opinion of “Old Fogeydom.”  I thought everyone who was older than 18 was a card carrying member. When I graduated from college “Old Fogeydom” seemed to have raised their entrance requirements to 35. At 40 I was pretty sure the Old Fogies all were older than 60.

One of the basic requirements for entrance to the “Old Fogeydom Society for Bitching and Complaining” was that one had to be pretty convinced that everything was better in the old days than it is now and that the world was going to hell in a hand basket.

I think maybe I am actually a member now.

I want to resign.

As an effort to avoid being “tapped” for the Society people began starting rumors that the “old 60 is really the new 40.” Then it became the “70 is the new 50” battle cry.

It is time for someone to burst the bubble of this kind of thinking.

Age is 60 remains age 60.

Age 70 is, unfortunately, still age 70.

You can dye it, buff it up, take the show on the road…but basically life still pretty much falls between conception and age 90 for most of us.

The Reverend Billy Graham has a new book out titled Nearing Home: Life, Faith, and Finishing Well.  It is a wonderful commentary on approaching the end of the life journey. You do not have to be religious to see the value of his insights and suggestions. I commend it to my readers.

If you think everything was better in the old days and if you are apoplectic about most of the things that are happening today, take a moment and read what Graham has to say. And when you do, recognize that you could have written this book using your own experiences.

In fact, you have written this book. You haven’t published it but you have lived it. If you can “end well” your story will continue through the generations of your family and your friends.

You have to be enthusiastic about your future.

You have to enjoy the present.

You can value the past but it serves no good purpose to compare it to the present in which you are living. And my friends, if you are above ground and taking nourishment you are STILL LIVING.

And you need to look for, and accept, all the beauty that continues each day of your life and refuse to be vanquished by what you can no longer do and be amazed by all the new doors that have opened to you.

When we near the end we are really educated by life experience as well as books, formally and informally, more than all the other people alive.

We are loaded with information and have never been better prepared to find meaning in all that is happening. We are loaded with memories; memories the young have yet to experience. We are full enough of life to be able to watch what doors are closing and what new ones are opening; and to have an experienced filled ability to evaluate both with great wisdom.

But perhaps, most importantly, we can be grateful for the “run” we have had, excited and enthusiastic about what awaits us down the road, and committed to not just living our life but living our death and finding them both the great experiences of our existence.

Life is a journey and like all journeys it has a point when it begins and a time when the destination is reached.  Is anyone aware of a more fantastic journey on which we could be traveling?

Commit to living every minute of it.

And keep in mind that you are the peak of your knowledge and experience and therefore your opinions are better informed and more likely to be correct.

Getting to the point where you are today was always a goal. And each day the goal line moves to yet another day.

Don’t punt. Don’t pass that ball.

Run for more yardage and maybe even a touchdown!















For further information:  jacksonblair@gmail.com



C. Jackson Blair
978 978 855 9994

If you missed the last column published in the paper you can access it at:

blair-notes.blogspot.com

Website:  www.jacksonblair.org

“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” -Einstein