Posted: March 9th, 2005, 12:49 am
Wow! Some interesting and varied replies to this topic! Thank you all.
It isn't so much about old age equalling a loss of energy. What I see is that today's older generation has a ton of energy --physical, emotional and intellectual vigor to spare. My father has an active and lively mind. So does my uncle. So many people seem to be the same to me ... and from my perspective, they're coasting. It's like they're saying they gave at the office, and now it's their time relax and enjoy life. I find that frustrating.
My uncle gets up at 6:00 AM to pursue a life of writing his latest novel that he knows will never get published and will have probably zero impact on the world. I am sure he gets a lot out of this amusement, and he is an excellent writer. But the last time I visited, he and my aunt told me in almost the same breath that they realize print is becoming obsolete and they worry about what will happen to their own extensive small library when they pass away. Will the books get thrown out, destroyed? Why take your golden years, your last years, vouchsafed to you by the clever machinations of FDR's Social Security Plan and the economic prosperity of the last 50 years, and throw it away on hobbies?
I just don't get it. My dad does the same. He reads history and relentlessly tracks down dead relatives, sending away for death certificates and other trivia. He is building a huge genealogy file for his one and only grandson. I was helping him do this for a little while. I admit I was fascinated (and still am!) by everything I was discovering. Then, one day not long ago it dawned on me that no one is going to give a good god damn about what my dad or I find out. The one descendant of our family is not going to give a rip about all these dead people. It's a waste. We are pursuing our own amusement and nothing else.
I admit I felt guilty for wasting a year off of work after nearly 25 years of being a full time employee for one company or another. I got up late all the time, and just loafed. I felt I should have SPENT my time more productively. I should have been more goal-oriented. I looked at my older retired relatives who get up every day at the crack of dawn. They are all DOING something! But then I got to look more closely at what they were DOING .... and I realized that it's no better than doing NOTHING.
If LRod is right and "being old means you cease to be part of the world " then the examples I have used above have certainly done exactly that!
Retire, tune in, turn on and drop out ... that appears to be the way of it from my point of view, and that is not inspiring.
I admit I have waged a lifelong internal battle between the temptation to do the things I find amusing and interesting and the things are that are practical and meaningful and have some real impact. Working with a cat rescue gets categorized as meaningful, but reading poetry or literature or history for me definitely falls into the amusement area. Writing a novel because I like writing is, well, FUN. Protesting the Iraq War, on the other hand, would be courageous and MEANINGFUL. It would be great if my dad, for instance, could be as intellectually interested in current events as he is in the Civil and Revolutionary Wars ...
The best answer I've gotten so far to the WHY part of this question is a variation on "I'm tired" best expressed by Buddhabitch. And she's right. I can relate to that feeling. But if she's tired, then so am I. We can all be tired together, young and old and in between, and ignore any pursuit that doesn't amuse us or entertain us or make us feel entirely happy with the state of our worlds.
Z -- I am envious of anyone who isn't a captive to the necessity of earning a living.
The nobility of earlier times, who weren't captive to the necessity to earn a living, often went out and did so, anyways. They did it out of a feeling of obligation and an earnest desire to make the world a better place.
Decide what you like about where your energy will be expended. I remember that you were always a student; you have always explored. That is all very good, but what is your understanding spared FOR when everything you have learned will die with you? As a teacher, you were at least able to pass on something of what was in your head to others. NOW where will it go? Just asking the question ...
I have a small carved memento mori. I've had it for years and it's always been on my coffee table to prompt me. I think I must have passed some crisis point in my life, because it used to urge me forward to do more, to give more, to be a more productive citizen of the world. Now I look at it and I only anticipate the end of the struggle. I think that's why I am looking so closely at all this. I'm tired. I see that others are tired too, and the possibility of death doesn't carry the same significance for me or for them as it once did ...
It isn't so much about old age equalling a loss of energy. What I see is that today's older generation has a ton of energy --physical, emotional and intellectual vigor to spare. My father has an active and lively mind. So does my uncle. So many people seem to be the same to me ... and from my perspective, they're coasting. It's like they're saying they gave at the office, and now it's their time relax and enjoy life. I find that frustrating.
My uncle gets up at 6:00 AM to pursue a life of writing his latest novel that he knows will never get published and will have probably zero impact on the world. I am sure he gets a lot out of this amusement, and he is an excellent writer. But the last time I visited, he and my aunt told me in almost the same breath that they realize print is becoming obsolete and they worry about what will happen to their own extensive small library when they pass away. Will the books get thrown out, destroyed? Why take your golden years, your last years, vouchsafed to you by the clever machinations of FDR's Social Security Plan and the economic prosperity of the last 50 years, and throw it away on hobbies?
I just don't get it. My dad does the same. He reads history and relentlessly tracks down dead relatives, sending away for death certificates and other trivia. He is building a huge genealogy file for his one and only grandson. I was helping him do this for a little while. I admit I was fascinated (and still am!) by everything I was discovering. Then, one day not long ago it dawned on me that no one is going to give a good god damn about what my dad or I find out. The one descendant of our family is not going to give a rip about all these dead people. It's a waste. We are pursuing our own amusement and nothing else.
I admit I felt guilty for wasting a year off of work after nearly 25 years of being a full time employee for one company or another. I got up late all the time, and just loafed. I felt I should have SPENT my time more productively. I should have been more goal-oriented. I looked at my older retired relatives who get up every day at the crack of dawn. They are all DOING something! But then I got to look more closely at what they were DOING .... and I realized that it's no better than doing NOTHING.
If LRod is right and "being old means you cease to be part of the world " then the examples I have used above have certainly done exactly that!
Retire, tune in, turn on and drop out ... that appears to be the way of it from my point of view, and that is not inspiring.
I admit I have waged a lifelong internal battle between the temptation to do the things I find amusing and interesting and the things are that are practical and meaningful and have some real impact. Working with a cat rescue gets categorized as meaningful, but reading poetry or literature or history for me definitely falls into the amusement area. Writing a novel because I like writing is, well, FUN. Protesting the Iraq War, on the other hand, would be courageous and MEANINGFUL. It would be great if my dad, for instance, could be as intellectually interested in current events as he is in the Civil and Revolutionary Wars ...
The best answer I've gotten so far to the WHY part of this question is a variation on "I'm tired" best expressed by Buddhabitch. And she's right. I can relate to that feeling. But if she's tired, then so am I. We can all be tired together, young and old and in between, and ignore any pursuit that doesn't amuse us or entertain us or make us feel entirely happy with the state of our worlds.
Z -- I am envious of anyone who isn't a captive to the necessity of earning a living.
The nobility of earlier times, who weren't captive to the necessity to earn a living, often went out and did so, anyways. They did it out of a feeling of obligation and an earnest desire to make the world a better place.
Decide what you like about where your energy will be expended. I remember that you were always a student; you have always explored. That is all very good, but what is your understanding spared FOR when everything you have learned will die with you? As a teacher, you were at least able to pass on something of what was in your head to others. NOW where will it go? Just asking the question ...
I have a small carved memento mori. I've had it for years and it's always been on my coffee table to prompt me. I think I must have passed some crisis point in my life, because it used to urge me forward to do more, to give more, to be a more productive citizen of the world. Now I look at it and I only anticipate the end of the struggle. I think that's why I am looking so closely at all this. I'm tired. I see that others are tired too, and the possibility of death doesn't carry the same significance for me or for them as it once did ...
