Old Timers

Old folks are people who have been young longer than young folks.

Dana Bate
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Hello Stuart
***************
When I was younger I frequently played characters who were much older than myself because of my imposing voice and presence. I tried in my acting to approximate what I thought old and late middle age was like. I feel slightly embarrassed about that now. At my current age of 73 I realize now how youthful those men actually were. I would like to go back and play some of those characters again, and do it right. It's a great mistake of the younger generation to assume and ascribe to men and women of advanced years necessary decrepitude, loss of strength and abilities, memory failure and even disgusting attitudes about life and the young. "He's just an old curmudgeon." I'm fond of iterating that the reason old folks can't remember things is because there are things old folks don't want to remember.

I knew an actor about my age who, when we reached our 40's, began describing all the things that would go wrong with me. Soon this would start giving out, after a while I would be losing that and eventually I would have to have the other thing done to me. I completely rejected the whole theory from my own thinking. I saw him again years later and he was suffering from all the things he had described. I wonder what he thought when he saw that I wasn't.

A few years ago two younger people I know decided that the next logical step for me was to sign myself over to the soft featherbed of assisted living/nursing home, to put myself into the hands of the doctors, obtain my wheelchair and sit around preparing to die. One of them even said I would be bed ridden in six months. I laugh "Yes, I'm bed ridden every night and when the sun comes up in the morning, I'm healed."

Many artists, writers and thinkers have accomplished their greatest and most important work at the tender ages of 80 or 90. That's a fact of life, don't waste your time doubting it. Age may be pasted on to the basic model but the man and woman underneath is also still the boy and the girl.

There is no reason to stop and capitulate to anyone's idea of old age, even your own. Even though he went deaf Beethoven continued to compose some of the world's greatest music. As George Washington wrote "It's wonderful what we can do if we're always doing." And that's why I say -

Never Give Up
DB, and the Magical Vagabond Journeys
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SUMMER QUESTION

I recently received a peck on the cheek from two members of the female persuasion. Besides those I haven't experienced a real kiss in many, many years. I have no flowers. There is nothing growing outside, no trees, no bushes, no flowers, just a few pathetic weeds here and there. That, thankfully, does a lot to discourage the mosquito population, but it doesn't give me much in the way of flora. So I pose this question for those of you who have more experience in these matters.
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Which is more important, a flower or a kiss? Why?

dbdacoba@aol.com

Thank you.

Open The Door

Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.

George Washington
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Hello Linda
********************
One of the things I regret the most from my youth was having to make unfair and unnecessary adaptations in my speech and attitudes in order to accommodate the people around me. If I expressed my own opinion about something it was usually belittled, ridiculed and criticized. Furthermore, it was generally agreed upon by everyone that until a person reached the age of 21 he was completely incapable of thinking for himself. So that when I did make a statement I heard a scornful "Oh, is that so." or "Where did you hear that?" or other such comments. People thought they were correcting me when all they were doing was disagreeing with me.

In order to protect myself from this moral misdemeanor I learned, early on to not only keep my mouth shut but to act like I agreed with everyone. I got so good at it that I actually convinced myself I believed in certain things that weren't true. I didn't realize then what a betrayal of myself I was causing.

I began to believe that certain behavior was correct because the group of people I was with behaved that way. I developed prejudices and biases that were based on nothing. I formed attitudes about things that conformed to those around me. I did whatever I needed to so that I would be approved of and not criticized and harshly judged by others. In short I gave myself away.

I did make friends, real ones. And at first I was puzzled by why they approved of things that I had convinced myself were wrong. But slowly my horizon began to change. I was actually opening up some closed doors in my own thinking and to accept ideas that had been hidden behind those doors gathering dust. I started to ask myself what I really thought about something and to reason it out rather than to fall back on a safe and previous attitude. My words became better and less judgmental and my behavior improved. I was discovering my conscience.

I felt vigorous about leaving the unreasonable behind and standing on better moral ground. Rather than to conform, I became a vagabond. Rather than to satisfy the normality, I became an artist. And rather than agree with the inane I found a sense of humor.

Such a thing doesn't happen overnight. It takes a life.

The Vagabond
May you always have enough hay for your horse and wood for your stove.
And never give up.
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SUMMER QUESTION

The end of Summer is fast approaching, people. 5 days left.

It's a long, hot, wet, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you.

Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

21 interesting answers so far.

You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.

DB
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Watch The Sword

Year by year, the Congress and the Senate must become of less account before all decent men.

Charles Dickens
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There is a sword hanging over America's head and it was put there by the Founding Fathers. Most of those who freely refer to those men have no bedrock idea who they were. Someone should write a book, if it hasn't already been written, about what happened to those men who signed the Declaration of Independence. How many lost their property, how many lost their families, how many were tortured by the British, how many were killed.

To stand up against the most powerful nation in the Western World took unimaginable courage and faith, what Schopenhauer called "reckless optimism." If we had lost the War of Independence George Washington would have been tortured and hung on the street in London, and he knew it.

And why did they do it, that disparate crowd of men who frequently disagreed with each other but who came to agree about what they had to do, to make a nation, a new land, a land of the free and courageous, a beacon to the world that personal rights and self government were achievable ideas. And along with that commitment came a challenge sent to the future, sent to us, from the hearts of men who risked everything.

When Charles Dickens visited America he observed American institutions and our way of life and found how much it had degenerated even in 100 years. Slavery was everywhere, rudeness, hypocrisy, dishonesty, corruption, all things he didn't expect of find. He wrote "Year by year, the memories of the Great Fathers of the Revolution must be outraged more and more, by the bad life of their degenerate child."

The current state of politics in this country is a betrayal of the gifts of those original thinking men and women. The avowed agendas of the recently elected members of Congress are a disgrace. Other nations are saying without equivocating that they don't want us in their lands. Worn out useless contracts are being brought out for acceptance by people who have not learned the ways of good government. Our future as a world leader and beacon is uncertain. Politicking has become a macabre joke, third rate entertainment. There are "decent men," intelligent adults in this country, somewhere. The sword doesn't need to fall. But it's hanging there.

DB
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AUTUMN QUESTION

(This is not a contest.)

At what event of the past do you wish you could be present? Why?

8 responses so far.

dbdacoba@aol.com

Thank you.
DB
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Living Alone

'Tis better to be alone than in bad company.

President George Washington
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Oh Jonah he lived in de whale
Oh Jonah he lived in de whale
For he made his home in dat fish's abdomen
Oh Jonah he lived in de whale
(Ira Gershwin)

Since I retired, 9 years ago, I've been living by myself. I'm not completely antisocial, I'm not a hermit. I occasionally see folks and have a brief chat. But basically I'm alone. And it's good for me.

I don't preach aloneness as a way of life for everyone, but it has been a boon for me . I have been in bad company in my time. Usually it was because I was lonely and went out looking for companionship. I found it, of course, but it wasn't always the best kind. I realized that soon enough and tried to ignore the behavior of people around me. When I couldn't do that I just withdrew back into myself, licked my wounds and prided myself for not being like other men. It is easy to find faults and criticize when it comes to other people.

But since being a loner I've had a lot of time to spend thinking about my past relationships and realizing I have a bucket full of forgiving to do. I had an obligation to myself and to others to refrain from my criticism, treat people with respect and not expect them to be what they aren't. I overlooked that obligation. I'm sorry. But as the hours and days of my solitariness slip by I am changing my ways and my attitudes about other people.

Most people know the story of Jonah and the whale. But how many people know how he got into that fix in the first place? He was fleeing from an obligation. He didn't want to face a nasty task of warning people about a possible destruction of their city. He was sure no one would believe him, and if it didn't happen he would look like a fool. So he sailed away on the next ship.

He would have gotten away with it but a terrible storm came up, the frightened sailors threw him overboard, and that's when he met the whale.

He spent three days living "in dat fish's abdomen" and when indigestion finally cause the whale to burp him up on the shore Jonah was a changed man. Was it splashing around in sea water or fighting off the whales digestive juices that changed him? No. It was finally being by himself and facing his circumstances, his arrogance and his failure to fulfill his obligation. So he returned to the city, warned the people, who did believe him, they took the necessary actions and saved themselves.

Surviving three days in "the belly of the beast" is a drastic way to learn one's lessons. It shouldn't happen to anyone. For me it's been nine years in my solitary sanctorum, alone, sometimes lonely, but always learning. If life ever burps me up on the shore I will be a different man.

DB - The Vagabond
*********************
AUTUMN QUESTION

(This is not a contest.)

At what event of the past do you wish you could be present? Why?

8 responses so far.

dbdacoba@aol.com

Thank you.
DB
************************

Wisdom Within 2/04/09

Labor to keep alive in your breast
that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.

George Washington
***************************
A fond hello friend.



One of the things I regret the most from my youth was having to make unfair and unnecessary adaptations in my speech and attitudes in order to accommodate the people around me. If I expressed my own opinion about something it was usually belittled, ridiculed and criticized. Furthermore, it was generally agreed upon by everyone that until a person reached the age of 21 he was completely incapable of thinking for himself. So that when I did make a statement I heard a scornful "Oh, is that so." or "Where did you hear that?" or other such comments. People thought they were correcting me when all they were doing was disagreeing with me.

In order to protect myself from this moral misdemeanor I learned, early on, not only to keep my mouth shut but to act like I agreed with everyone. I got so good at it that I actually convinced myself that I believed in certain things that weren't true. I didn't realize then what a betrayal of myself I was causing.

I began to believe that certain behavior was all right because the group of people I was with behaved that way. I developed prejudices and biases that were based on nothing. I formed attitudes about things that conformed to those around me. I did whatever I needed to so that I would be approved of and not criticized and harshly judged by others. In short I gave myself away.

I did make friends, real ones. And at first I was puzzled by why they approved of things that I had convinced myself were wrong. But slowly my horizon began to change. I was actually opening up some closed doors in my own thinking and to accept ideas that had been hidden behind them gathering dust. I started to ask myself what I really thought about something and to reason it out rather than to fall back on a safe and previous attitude. My words became better and less judgmental and my behavior improved. I was discovering my conscience.

I felt vigorous about leaving the unreasonable behind and standing on better moral ground. Rather than to conform, I became a vagabond. Rather than to satisfy the normality, I became an artist. And rather than agree with the inane I found a sense of humor.

Such a thing doesn't happen overnight. It takes a life.



May you always have enough hay for your horse and wood for your stove.

The Vagabond
dbdacoba@aol.com
http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/
http://vagabondjottings.blogspot.com./

Careful Calculation 11/16/08

Never was good work done without much trouble.

Chinese proverb
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This is a Chinese version of Murphy's Law "If anything can go wrong. it will."

Too many people think expecting the worst and planning for it is dark and pessimistic. My mother was not known for having much wisdom, but one of the wisest things I ever heard was from her when she told me that when I was driving to always expect the other driver was going to do something foolish. That advice has saved me a lot of trouble and maybe even my life. If more people practiced that caution there would be a lot less road rage, I bet.

One of the most important work ever done in the history of the world was the establishment of the United States of America. From standing up to and defying our government, to finally beating them and throwing them out, was ablaze with troubles.

We didn't have the manpower to fight the well trained, well disciplined British Army. The money was not coming from the colonies to pay the troops or supply them properly. The politicians were all arguing with each other over what to do. Some of them wanted to stay in the British Empire. Others were putting their lives on the line to be independent. There were so many times we almost lost; so many times we almost gave up. There was nothing easy about it and no lack of trouble.

George Washington knew what serious trouble was first hand, starving troops, men dying of wounds, or abandoning him. And yet he went ahead and won. If he had lost he would probably have been taken back to London and died a traitor's death, being tortured to death in a public square.

Even after we won some of the conservative colonists wanted to make him king. And that would have put us right back where we started from. Fortunately Washington refused. He was a smart man.

We have our country today because he and others were willing to put up with the trouble and to get the job done. Thank you.



DB - Vagabond Journeys