I saw a tee shirt glorifying those of us born in nineteen fifty-four as now being the "new forty" at age sixty-two. Fine sentiment indeed, but I feel more like eighty-two. It's not a mental thing. Mentally I have the mind of a twenty-four year old. I know this because I took one of those quizzes on FaceBook. Not scientifically valid, agreed, but I liked the conclusion.
Nevertheless, it is my body that has betrayed me and not my mind, not yet at least. I trained in martial arts for thirty-eight years with the zeal of someone with something to prove. Now I am paying the price for my folly without ever realizing the satisfaction of having proved whatever it was I was trying to prove.
But you know, it's not all bad. I mean, I (and all those others born the same year as me) have lived through some spectacular times in human history. The "Space Race", the lunar landings, the rise of the Berlin Wall, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the break up of the Soviet Union, the Kennedy assassinations, MLK's assassination, the Viet Nam war, Nixon, Watergate, the shootings at Kent State, the end of the Vietnamese war, Voyager, discovering the Higgs-bosson, mapping the human genome, the information age, and so and so on.
I have experienced the cultural changes brought about by the Hippies, the pill, the sexual revolution, the music, the art (who can forget Andy Warhol?) and what about the Beatles and let's not forget Woodstock (or the drugs)!
With all that I have experienced during my life, all that has influenced my thinking, I suppose the best would be experiencing the ebb and flow of life itself; the transition from child to teen, from teen to adult and on to middle age and beyond. I mean I have lived in three countries! Born in Great Britain, growing up in Canada and moving in my forties to America, it has all been a vivid experience. And with these transitions comes hard won life lessons. Joyful ones such as the birth of my children, important ones such as having a career (I have had two thus far spanning four decades), realizing the responsibility to my first wife and to my children, realizing the consequences of shirking that responsibility and living with the outcome. The strength not to settle for a situation unsuitable to my being and after surviving life changes and bad choices to finally find someone compatible, someone to love and to be loved by (love you Deb) is to realize my worth.
This is what my advice would be to my children and it is what I have told my son in long conversations; find your own meaning, be responsible for your own happiness, seek it out and let no one turn you from your path, but be mindful not to purposely hurt those you love, to do no harm and make amends if you do.
But the "new forty," I don't think so, not if you have lived as fully as you can, for you would be too exhausted to live like you were forty when you are sixty-two if that were the case. Having been born in nineteen fifty-four, I am proud of the experiences I have had and the lessons I have learned, the good and the bad. But I am not done yet.
Nevertheless, it is my body that has betrayed me and not my mind, not yet at least. I trained in martial arts for thirty-eight years with the zeal of someone with something to prove. Now I am paying the price for my folly without ever realizing the satisfaction of having proved whatever it was I was trying to prove.
But you know, it's not all bad. I mean, I (and all those others born the same year as me) have lived through some spectacular times in human history. The "Space Race", the lunar landings, the rise of the Berlin Wall, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the break up of the Soviet Union, the Kennedy assassinations, MLK's assassination, the Viet Nam war, Nixon, Watergate, the shootings at Kent State, the end of the Vietnamese war, Voyager, discovering the Higgs-bosson, mapping the human genome, the information age, and so and so on.
I have experienced the cultural changes brought about by the Hippies, the pill, the sexual revolution, the music, the art (who can forget Andy Warhol?) and what about the Beatles and let's not forget Woodstock (or the drugs)!
With all that I have experienced during my life, all that has influenced my thinking, I suppose the best would be experiencing the ebb and flow of life itself; the transition from child to teen, from teen to adult and on to middle age and beyond. I mean I have lived in three countries! Born in Great Britain, growing up in Canada and moving in my forties to America, it has all been a vivid experience. And with these transitions comes hard won life lessons. Joyful ones such as the birth of my children, important ones such as having a career (I have had two thus far spanning four decades), realizing the responsibility to my first wife and to my children, realizing the consequences of shirking that responsibility and living with the outcome. The strength not to settle for a situation unsuitable to my being and after surviving life changes and bad choices to finally find someone compatible, someone to love and to be loved by (love you Deb) is to realize my worth.
This is what my advice would be to my children and it is what I have told my son in long conversations; find your own meaning, be responsible for your own happiness, seek it out and let no one turn you from your path, but be mindful not to purposely hurt those you love, to do no harm and make amends if you do.
But the "new forty," I don't think so, not if you have lived as fully as you can, for you would be too exhausted to live like you were forty when you are sixty-two if that were the case. Having been born in nineteen fifty-four, I am proud of the experiences I have had and the lessons I have learned, the good and the bad. But I am not done yet.
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