Just remember, once you're over the hill you begin to pick up speed.
Arthur Schopenhauer
***********************
Hello Margie
***********************
What's the difference between real time and obligatory time? If you are invited to a party by a friend and you go delighted to be there, to meet their friends and share some stories, laughs and good companionship, that's real time. If you go to meet someone you think will be there just to do make a contact and maybe do some business, even that is real time. If you go to put in an appearance just to make sure that you don't lose an acquaintance or insult the host, that's obligatory time.
If you take your kids to the playground and enjoy seeing them play and maybe pushing them on a swing or catching them as they come down the slide, laughing with them and listening to their chatter, that's real time. If you take them to the park just to sit and talk with another parent or do nothing but keep an eye on them while they do whatever they can find to do on their own, that's obligatory time and the average child knows the difference.
Now answer this, what is the difference between a real life and an obligatory life?
One of the advantages of growing older, going "over the hill," as Schopenhauer and others put it, is the realization of how much obligatory time one has logged on one's time sheet and how sparse the real time measurements are. Those vacations at the beach which were meant to be relaxing times were actually obligatory escapes from a difficult or time consuming job. Getting with the guys for horseshoes or the girls for your bridge club may seem to have been real time but as you look back it seems more like a waste of time, an obligatory waste of time. Time you could have spent doing what? Something real?
Some of those of us who are masquerading as senior citizens (for want of a better term) take on projects. We learn a foreign language as I am trying to do. We join a book club to read and discuss some of the world's great, or not so great, literature. We go on cruises to see what the Earth looks like in the Caribbean, or Mediterranean or in the Fjords of Norway or Alaska. We volunteer our services in hospitals, day care centers or other institutions where some senior wisdom will be useful. We take up painting or writing and produce works that will beautify and enhance other lives. We take up a new enterprise or a new business and go back to work. And why do we do it?
We do not do it because life is short and we had better do something with the little time we have left while we're waiting to die. No. We do it because we are alive and wish to live real lives and not obligatory ones any more. Let the magazines and the TV talk show hosts admire her for teaching a college course at the age of 80. She's not thinking about being 80. She's thinking about teaching.
Old fogies pick up speed because they no longer waste time on obligatory lives. Let pretence, guile, artificiality and acting-their-age go out with the trash along with the false eyelashes. They're out for the real stuff.
Dana Bate - The Vagabond
Never Give Up
******************************
Showing posts with label senior citizens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label senior citizens. Show all posts
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Friday, December 2, 2011
Geezer Here
Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man.
Leon Trotsky
****************
Hello George
*****************
I'm a senior citizen.
"No, you're an old coot, a geezer." "Don't get around much any more?" "Old rocking chair's gotcha?" "To old to cut the mustard?"
No, I'm a senior citizen.
"Nah, it's all down hill for you. You're past your prime. You're over the hill, rusted out. Why, you're on overtime. Give it up."
No, I AM a SENIOR CITIZEN.
"Look at yourself, you're nothing but a bag of bones. You stagger around with a cane. You can't remember people's names. You probably forgot where you left your wallet Look at you, hanging on by a thread. Why don't you just die and rid the world of a parasite?"
I am a senior citizen and proud of it. And if you don't shut up I will do something which will probably send us both to the hospital.
-------------------------------------------------------------
As well as putting up with prejudice, underestimation and tacit or direct verbal abuse, one of the other tasks of being an older person is learning how to process what you know.
One cannot put in many years of life without knowing something, more than your youngers, about the world, human behavior and human misbehavior. Indissolubly linked with that understanding is what you know about yourself.
Life is unfinished business. As an old geezer I am still astonished to find out certain things about myself, and that tells me that my business isn't done. That knowledge comes upon me in unexpected ways. It's almost as if nature is saying "It's almost time to be tested for an advanced degree in selfknowledge, Better do some studying." And the understanding I learn about myself is also linked to what I know about the human race in general.
There's a proverb that says "When an old person dies a library burns down." I can't teach anyone what I know by sitting on my front porch. No one comes by to hear it. If I had a faithful old dog sitting at my feet I could tell him. But he probably knows it all already. So instead I write.
There are three levels of communication for a writer with senior years wrapped around his shoulders: the exoteric, the esoteric and the secret. The exoteric is knowledge that is proven. The esoteric is knowledge that can be proven if anyone cares to do it. The secret is manna of the heart that cannot be written except in parables, and then only with a silent pen.
Children screaming
With delight
There is no night there
All equations have been reduced
There is no right there
Only better
Dana Bate - Senior Vagabond
Never Give Up
******************************
Leon Trotsky
****************
Hello George
*****************
I'm a senior citizen.
"No, you're an old coot, a geezer." "Don't get around much any more?" "Old rocking chair's gotcha?" "To old to cut the mustard?"
No, I'm a senior citizen.
"Nah, it's all down hill for you. You're past your prime. You're over the hill, rusted out. Why, you're on overtime. Give it up."
No, I AM a SENIOR CITIZEN.
"Look at yourself, you're nothing but a bag of bones. You stagger around with a cane. You can't remember people's names. You probably forgot where you left your wallet Look at you, hanging on by a thread. Why don't you just die and rid the world of a parasite?"
I am a senior citizen and proud of it. And if you don't shut up I will do something which will probably send us both to the hospital.
-------------------------------------------------------------
As well as putting up with prejudice, underestimation and tacit or direct verbal abuse, one of the other tasks of being an older person is learning how to process what you know.
One cannot put in many years of life without knowing something, more than your youngers, about the world, human behavior and human misbehavior. Indissolubly linked with that understanding is what you know about yourself.
Life is unfinished business. As an old geezer I am still astonished to find out certain things about myself, and that tells me that my business isn't done. That knowledge comes upon me in unexpected ways. It's almost as if nature is saying "It's almost time to be tested for an advanced degree in selfknowledge, Better do some studying." And the understanding I learn about myself is also linked to what I know about the human race in general.
There's a proverb that says "When an old person dies a library burns down." I can't teach anyone what I know by sitting on my front porch. No one comes by to hear it. If I had a faithful old dog sitting at my feet I could tell him. But he probably knows it all already. So instead I write.
There are three levels of communication for a writer with senior years wrapped around his shoulders: the exoteric, the esoteric and the secret. The exoteric is knowledge that is proven. The esoteric is knowledge that can be proven if anyone cares to do it. The secret is manna of the heart that cannot be written except in parables, and then only with a silent pen.
Children screaming
With delight
There is no night there
All equations have been reduced
There is no right there
Only better
Dana Bate - Senior Vagabond
Never Give Up
******************************
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Something Old, Something New
One of the hardest things for old folks is to remember that young folks were born in a different age, and vice versa.
DB - The Vagabond
********************
If you are a senior citizen who has tried to convey what your life was like when you were young you have probably seen that benign, uncomprehending smile on the face of whatever youngster you were talking to. It isn't that they don't believe you, it's just that they don't understand. They have probably heard things about the "old" days but have no experience with them. They can't imagine a black and white TV with an antenna on the roof, a milk man delivering mile to your door every morning, telephones without dials that got a live operator every time you picked them up, cars that ran on gas which cost 50 cents a gallon or less, penny post cards.
When I was a kid I was amused at my grandmother who had a fright every time the phone rang. But she was a woman who, when she was young and newly married, would drive the ox cart into town to buy supplies for their sod house on the Nebraska prairie. I couldn't conceive of it.
Young people today know about things I took for granted that I wasn't supposed to know about. I've heard preteens make remarks about things and I want to say to them "How do you know about that?" but I realize it's an old fogy question so I keep my mouth shut.
But I wonder, considering the rapid development of technology, if it's possible to be an old fogy at the age of 20. At the tender age of 71 not only can I not keep up with all the latest gadgets, I also no longer want to. If someone says to me "What?!! You don't know about such and such?" I will answer "There are a lot of things I don't know about and neither do you. Now I'm more interested in Mozart than Microsoft, so there."
We do change as we grow, but it seems that every age has a different starting place.
DB
*******************
SUMMER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Who are the 2 (two) most important people alive today? Why?
1 response so far.
dbdacoba@aol.com
Thank you.
DB
********************
DB - The Vagabond
********************
If you are a senior citizen who has tried to convey what your life was like when you were young you have probably seen that benign, uncomprehending smile on the face of whatever youngster you were talking to. It isn't that they don't believe you, it's just that they don't understand. They have probably heard things about the "old" days but have no experience with them. They can't imagine a black and white TV with an antenna on the roof, a milk man delivering mile to your door every morning, telephones without dials that got a live operator every time you picked them up, cars that ran on gas which cost 50 cents a gallon or less, penny post cards.
When I was a kid I was amused at my grandmother who had a fright every time the phone rang. But she was a woman who, when she was young and newly married, would drive the ox cart into town to buy supplies for their sod house on the Nebraska prairie. I couldn't conceive of it.
Young people today know about things I took for granted that I wasn't supposed to know about. I've heard preteens make remarks about things and I want to say to them "How do you know about that?" but I realize it's an old fogy question so I keep my mouth shut.
But I wonder, considering the rapid development of technology, if it's possible to be an old fogy at the age of 20. At the tender age of 71 not only can I not keep up with all the latest gadgets, I also no longer want to. If someone says to me "What?!! You don't know about such and such?" I will answer "There are a lot of things I don't know about and neither do you. Now I'm more interested in Mozart than Microsoft, so there."
We do change as we grow, but it seems that every age has a different starting place.
DB
*******************
SUMMER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Who are the 2 (two) most important people alive today? Why?
1 response so far.
dbdacoba@aol.com
Thank you.
DB
********************
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Aw, grow up.
Everyone else my age is an adult. Whereas I am merely in disguise.
Margaret Atwood
*********************
"The actors are come hither, my Lord." Shakespeare
----------------------------
I was recently talking with a friend who is about my age and I said that these days I was masquerading as a senior citizen. He said "So am I." He's also an artist.
It's not so much that creative work keeps you young as that it is outside of age altogether. Mozart, in his music, was a wise old man even though he only lived into his 30's, Some writers don't start writing their novels until their 70's or 80's.
In my younger years I triad to be an adult. I wasn't good at it. Back then I thought I knew what an adult was, a serious minded professional, a responsible and contributive member of society with a solid goal and a well defined purpose in life, an authority figure in his chosen line of work. But I was none of those things.
I was a performing artist, an actor, a player. A player is one who plays. Just because I was able to convincingly depict grown ups on the stage didn't mean that I was one.
Furthermore, a serious adult doesn't find anything amusing about the serious issues of life. But I, thank heaven, and to the great scorn of some around me, had a sense of humor which I still have.
Now, if I can't remember someone's name it doesn't throw me into a vortex of grief over losing my memory. After all these years I have a large library of names stacked up in my mind. You can't expect me to remember all of them at the flick of a switch. I send the research assistant who resides in my brain down into the vaults to go through the files until he comes up with it.
I'm still the boy I was 60 years ago, discovering life and gratefully turning my discoveries into things that are beautiful, I hope. Now, in my current disguise, I enjoy playing the role of an adult and a senior citizen. Just don't ask me to grow up. .
DB - The Vagabond
-----------------------------
No smart aleck remarks about Peter Pan, please.
************************
Margaret Atwood
*********************
"The actors are come hither, my Lord." Shakespeare
----------------------------
I was recently talking with a friend who is about my age and I said that these days I was masquerading as a senior citizen. He said "So am I." He's also an artist.
It's not so much that creative work keeps you young as that it is outside of age altogether. Mozart, in his music, was a wise old man even though he only lived into his 30's, Some writers don't start writing their novels until their 70's or 80's.
In my younger years I triad to be an adult. I wasn't good at it. Back then I thought I knew what an adult was, a serious minded professional, a responsible and contributive member of society with a solid goal and a well defined purpose in life, an authority figure in his chosen line of work. But I was none of those things.
I was a performing artist, an actor, a player. A player is one who plays. Just because I was able to convincingly depict grown ups on the stage didn't mean that I was one.
Furthermore, a serious adult doesn't find anything amusing about the serious issues of life. But I, thank heaven, and to the great scorn of some around me, had a sense of humor which I still have.
Now, if I can't remember someone's name it doesn't throw me into a vortex of grief over losing my memory. After all these years I have a large library of names stacked up in my mind. You can't expect me to remember all of them at the flick of a switch. I send the research assistant who resides in my brain down into the vaults to go through the files until he comes up with it.
I'm still the boy I was 60 years ago, discovering life and gratefully turning my discoveries into things that are beautiful, I hope. Now, in my current disguise, I enjoy playing the role of an adult and a senior citizen. Just don't ask me to grow up. .
DB - The Vagabond
-----------------------------
No smart aleck remarks about Peter Pan, please.
************************
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Justified Jalopies 9/23/09
When you become a senior citizen you will be amazed at how much everyone, except for small children and other seniors, thinks you're stupid.
DB - The Vagabond
*******************
Fall right in here.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
In my younger years a popular word of the day was "nonconformist" which was used in a pejorative sense to describe anyone who seemed to be even slightly eccentric. If one became labeled as a nonconformist certain doors were automatically closed. Most artists were instant nonconformists, of course, if they painted anything but pretty pictures. Nonconformists were not actually societal outcasts. They were merely expected to stay in their place. And what "place" was that? "I wouldn't mind having lunch with a nonconformist, but I wouldn't want my daughter to marry one of them."
As I got older I found myself changing my attitudes and opinions about life and the world around me. And in doing so I began to realize how much conforming I had done for various reasons. One of those was to make a living. One needed to behave the way the industry wanted and expected because that's the way everyone else behaved. So some of us got used to it. But growing up is a process of shedding the uniform that society urges us to wear, or at least realizing that it is a uniform and not our real skin.
Not shedding the uniform of attitudes and opinions that no longer fit is a recipe for foolishness. With age and experience should come the realization of what no longer fits, of what has been outgrown. Some people never seem to do it.
Are there old fools, you ask? Of course. Fools come in all ages. But more often than not senior citizens will sit silently grinning at the world of conformists, not in scorn, but in the remembrance of how they once thought and behaved in the same way, and knowing that growing up is the answer. As someone once said, youth is a condition that improves daily.
The innocence of childhood will treat blessed grandparents more or less as equals because they are only just beginning to learn, both at their detriment and for their survival, to conform to the world's opinions. While two old men sitting on the front porch,, sharing the afternoon sun on their aching knees, may talk of nothing much because the wisdom of old codgerism is also shared.
The more life becomes a parable the less of a fantasy it is.
DB - The Vagabond
**************
May the promise of Autumn brighten your day.
DB - The Vagabond
*******************
Fall right in here.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
In my younger years a popular word of the day was "nonconformist" which was used in a pejorative sense to describe anyone who seemed to be even slightly eccentric. If one became labeled as a nonconformist certain doors were automatically closed. Most artists were instant nonconformists, of course, if they painted anything but pretty pictures. Nonconformists were not actually societal outcasts. They were merely expected to stay in their place. And what "place" was that? "I wouldn't mind having lunch with a nonconformist, but I wouldn't want my daughter to marry one of them."
As I got older I found myself changing my attitudes and opinions about life and the world around me. And in doing so I began to realize how much conforming I had done for various reasons. One of those was to make a living. One needed to behave the way the industry wanted and expected because that's the way everyone else behaved. So some of us got used to it. But growing up is a process of shedding the uniform that society urges us to wear, or at least realizing that it is a uniform and not our real skin.
Not shedding the uniform of attitudes and opinions that no longer fit is a recipe for foolishness. With age and experience should come the realization of what no longer fits, of what has been outgrown. Some people never seem to do it.
Are there old fools, you ask? Of course. Fools come in all ages. But more often than not senior citizens will sit silently grinning at the world of conformists, not in scorn, but in the remembrance of how they once thought and behaved in the same way, and knowing that growing up is the answer. As someone once said, youth is a condition that improves daily.
The innocence of childhood will treat blessed grandparents more or less as equals because they are only just beginning to learn, both at their detriment and for their survival, to conform to the world's opinions. While two old men sitting on the front porch,, sharing the afternoon sun on their aching knees, may talk of nothing much because the wisdom of old codgerism is also shared.
The more life becomes a parable the less of a fantasy it is.
DB - The Vagabond
**************
May the promise of Autumn brighten your day.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Tested Truth 6/16/09
Life is a library.
Joe Theismann
***********
Good day to you.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Ignorance is a terrible thing, but it's curable. Arrogance is also terrible, but much harder to cure, it seems. Some people have a nasty habit, when they learn something new, of acting as if they always knew it and putting down people who don't. I got a lot of that growing up. "You don't know such and such? What's the matter with you/" or "Where have you been?" Those remarks were usually accompanied by a scornful snicker.
"I'm better than you because I know something you don't."
"Well, then tell me and we'll both be better and the world will be a slightly nicer place."
Knowledge is not something worth getting arrogant about. Superior knowledge is nothing compared to a superior life.
"Life is a library." And we are all librarians, The tomes in your life may be different from those in mine, but they are all leading toward the same goal, which is wisdom. There's a saying, "When an old person dies a library burns down."
I like to think of life also as a farm. In our early years the harvest is small and we find we've garnered some useless crops. As we grow so does the farm and we become more careful about what seeds we sew.
As time goes by we gain a better harvest. We learn how to separate the true grain from the regrets, errors, mistakes, hates, rages, prejudices, fears and failures. We sift through what's left and one day we find we have more grain in the silo and more seeds in the bag than we can use. Then it's payback time. Time to provide for the young farmers just learning. Time to open wide the library and share the knowledge, free for all.
As senior citizens we have the right and privilege to do that. A life lived is an obligation to life. We have a sacred stock of wisdom, however great or small, to share with those who are no longer arrogant in their ways.
And that is what Vagabond Journeys is all about.
DB
__________________
May a nice spring breeze tickle your chin and mess up your hair.
*******************************
Joe Theismann
***********
Good day to you.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Ignorance is a terrible thing, but it's curable. Arrogance is also terrible, but much harder to cure, it seems. Some people have a nasty habit, when they learn something new, of acting as if they always knew it and putting down people who don't. I got a lot of that growing up. "You don't know such and such? What's the matter with you/" or "Where have you been?" Those remarks were usually accompanied by a scornful snicker.
"I'm better than you because I know something you don't."
"Well, then tell me and we'll both be better and the world will be a slightly nicer place."
Knowledge is not something worth getting arrogant about. Superior knowledge is nothing compared to a superior life.
"Life is a library." And we are all librarians, The tomes in your life may be different from those in mine, but they are all leading toward the same goal, which is wisdom. There's a saying, "When an old person dies a library burns down."
I like to think of life also as a farm. In our early years the harvest is small and we find we've garnered some useless crops. As we grow so does the farm and we become more careful about what seeds we sew.
As time goes by we gain a better harvest. We learn how to separate the true grain from the regrets, errors, mistakes, hates, rages, prejudices, fears and failures. We sift through what's left and one day we find we have more grain in the silo and more seeds in the bag than we can use. Then it's payback time. Time to provide for the young farmers just learning. Time to open wide the library and share the knowledge, free for all.
As senior citizens we have the right and privilege to do that. A life lived is an obligation to life. We have a sacred stock of wisdom, however great or small, to share with those who are no longer arrogant in their ways.
And that is what Vagabond Journeys is all about.
DB
__________________
May a nice spring breeze tickle your chin and mess up your hair.
*******************************
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