Keep Thinking

As you age, which you will, doctors will urge you to stay physically active.  Sound advice. But you hear to little about staying mentally active. This is just as important.
I used to work at a condo where most of the residents were senior citizens (I hate that term). I watched many, if not most of them degenerate to a sort of vegetable existence. They watched TV, walked around a little, and gossiped. That was about it. I have, at times almost lapsed into that same pattern. Well, I was never much on gossip, but I sure watched TV. Then, I noticed a certain mental fog settling in. I started reading a lot, but lost much of my vision, so that was out and the fog came back. So I started writing again. Thank God computers have a magnifier setting. The fog dissipated. Trust me, the fog is not all that pleasant.
There are so  many ways to keep mentally active/ Reading and writing, certainly, but if that is not appealing, learn something new. You don't have to take a physics or calculus course, but foreign language courses are great mental exercises. Learn chess or bridge. Take up  any craft. Even if you just go out and carefully observe the World, you are keeping that brain of yours sharp.
Meditation helps, but be careful not to overdo that. It can become an excuse to lapse into a stupor like state.
Thee are libraries and on line courses, so money is not an \issue. Join discussion groups in your area, Volunteer work is fine, If you have a skill, find people who want to learn what you know. You can help yourself while you help others.
In other words do something with that over sized brain we have besides watching TV and playing silly games on line. Your Creator gave you that big brain to be used.
Well, it's Friday. Enjoy a fun and Blessed weekend.

Aging in America

Okay, we all age, and that's not too bad. Like my Dad used to say, "consider the alternative." We have all seen programs and ads on TV about the 'golden years.' Well, that may be a bit of a stretch.

To those who think they will keep working until they are in their 70s, good luck with that. You best hang on to what ever job you have for dear life, because the days of older folks getting a nice, easy part-time job are gone. If you are older and looking for that little job to bring in some money and fill your hours, you will be competing with folks from 16 to 55 who need that bit of cash to feed their families and, guess what? You lose, and in fairness, I understand that. Why should an employer train you for a job you won't keep for more than a few years and are not likely to take seriously, when they can get a young healthy, eager, person who might stay for years.

For example, I have a lot of experience working in food service. While living in a college town, I tried to get a job, just a few hours a week, and there were openings, but I never found one and wondered why. Then, in a flash, I figured it out. The customers were mostly college kids. Given a choice between a 60 year old, gray haired, chubby man or a cute young boy or girl. who would you hire? The young person, obviously. Even though I had much more experience and could work circles around most of them, their youth was the clincher. Makes sense to me.

Also, you have insurance and workman's comp issues. It is far easier and less expensive to insure young folks. Another factor is the unwillingness of older workers to change their way of working. We do get set in our ways and it is hard to change the way you have worked for years to accommodate a new boss.

So, when you age, you have a problem when it comes to working and let me honest, those images of old folks playing golf and cards and attending dinners and shows are not realistic, unless you have much money. Even then, recreation, as a steady diet, gets damn boring.

So, what to do? Answer; re-invent yourself. Change your habits, try to find new interests, and then do something, anything. If you try something and it doesn't work, or you lose interest, try something else, or try several things. Keep your mind sharp. Turn off the TV and the Computer and get outside and move around. If something you are interested is marketable, sell, it. You won't get rich, but you likely will have fun. Or, give what you make away; folks love little gifts. Or volunteer, teach kids, help those who need help, work at an animal shelter. Whatever you want to do, go for it.

Keep going, keep changing, keep learning, and don't stop until you just can't keep going. Then, you can sit back and think about all the good you did, all the fun you had, and even then, always be ready to share, to talk with others about all you have seen and done and learned.

And, to all you younger folks. America does something inexcusable, shameful. We are the culture that has decided that youth is all that matters. Look at the ads and TV shows, the emphasis is on youth. Youth is great, but to overlook the beauty and wisdom of the elderly is a grave mistake, one that the rest of the world doesn't make. Remember, one day, if all goes well, you too will be old and what goes around, comes around.

When Will America's Bubble Break?

What goes up, comes down. Nothing could be simpler, nothing is more true. At the risk of being thought overly pessimistic, let me say that this will be true in this country, just as it has proved true in every nation, every civilization, that has sought greatness. Sorry folks, that's just the way it is.

This has little to do with terrorism; that is but a symptom.  Look  at the World and you will learn, Things age, they die, and, from that, new is born. I didn't make the rules, but I see the logic. A human, or any other creature born will, over time, loose its ability to function. Civilizations are no different.

Civilizations coalesce when people get new ideas, when they find new world views and this is going to happen as long as we have life. Change is the only constant in the Cosmos. If you are not changing, you are dying. We are constantly learning about ourselves and our World and you cannot ignore what is learned. To do so, to attempt to live in a World that is dead, a World that is no longer authentic is suicide and, yet, that is what many, many attempt.

Politicians strut on the stages, spouting stale rhetoric. "We are the strongest. The rest of the World looks to us for guidance." This is nonsense, dangerous nonsense. True, we have a whole bunch of nuclear missiles and bombs but we cannot use them without destroying ourselves, Our conventional forces are depleted, our troops, while brave fighters, are burnt out, and let us for once be honest, we cannot now defeat a small army of half trained, poorly equipped lunatics hiding in the desert because we are petrified that to do so would arouse the wrath of various countries. Sorry, we have lost the will to be great. That happens with all creatures as they age and countries are no different.

As far as the rest of the World is concerned, we are a somewhat useful tool. They would love for us to waste our funds and the lives of young men in efforts to save their asses. We, seemingly are dumb enough to keep doing this. I have recently heard it suggested that we, despite being involved in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan, and despite still, after almost seventy years having many troops in S. Korea and many more in Europe, that we need to do something about ISIS in Libya. What pressing business do we have in Libya? Where next? Samoa? The Canary Islands? Nepal? Maybe we should just draft every 18 year old, male and female (who, by the way, will be sent into combat) and put troops and missiles in every damn country on Earth and threaten to kill anyone who steps out of line.

Not a good idea? I agree, so let's try this. Push, and push hard, to crush the monster that is ISIS, then get out of the Mid-East, and get out of every other country. Then tell the World to handle its own affairs while we figure out just where we are going and what we want to be when we grow up. Only teenage boys, with raging testosterone want to fight everything that moves.

Our Nation is entering a new phase, hopefully a more mature one, where we stop trying to run the World. From that we will change as we age. That is natural and as it should be. There will be a time when the young, headstrong Nation we were will be gone. Make no mistake about that, and in a whole lot of ways, I will miss the hell out of that. But, what will be, will be. We have two choices. Finish what we started and then mature into something new, or , like many young people, burn out and crash in flames. The latter choice does have a certain romantic appeal but, I have seen that happen to many people and it is not nearly as exciting as it sounds.

Our American Obsession with Health

The world, and this country, gets weirder and weirder. Now, I have no problem with weird, but I cannot quite wrap my brain around our current dementia.       

We seem to have no soul, no heart, left. Sure, people, some, here and there, display a bit of courage and kindness, but we have become so timid, so frightened. I suppose that is somewhat understandable, we have been through some rough spots, but come on, folks. What we have seen is nothing compared to what my folks saw. They went through World War 2, after scuffling through the Depression, and came through it all ready to roll. To prove it, they built this techno-wonderland we now live in.                                                                                        

We are besieged with advice from our government about our lifestyles. Every week we are told new things from our ever vigilant food fascists. No meat, especially no processed meat. No butter, no margarine, now no vegetable oils at all. Fried foods are a near sin. Eggs may be okay, but no more than one or two a week. Maybe. They'll get back to us on that one. Milk, well maybe, but you really should stick to soy or rice milk. And on and on it goes.               

To make things worse, the restrictions are changed at an ever increasing  rate. Two weeks ago, an announcement came out proclaiming red meat to be perfectly safe, this after years of declaring it a near poison. But, before you can grab a burger, they tell us that it likely causes kidney cancer. For years we were warned off whole milk, now they say that skim and lo-fat are no better. Butter was akin to cyanide for a long time, now it is said to be safer that the once touted margarines. Fry in vegetable oils, not animal fats, was once the word from on high. Now, we have just been told, avoid all vegetable oils.                                                                     

My folks and all the parents of every kid I knew, lived on bacon, eggs, sausage, steaks, and butter. They smoked, drank gallons of coffee and most consumed a fair amount of alcohol. They worked hard, so hard that there was no need to work out in gyms. Even if they worked in offices, taking care of their property and keeping up with their kids kept them in perfectly acceptable shape.                                                                                                                                               

Again, without all the fuss and without the advice from our meddlesome government and the busy- body researchers who are trying to justify the grant money they scammed out of foundations, they built the most amazing civilization the planet has ever seen. And here we sit, whining because that donut we snuck the other day may take ten minutes off our life (it likely will not hurt you half as much as worrying about it).                                                  

Admittedly, they may (emphasis on may) have lived a year or two longer if they had cut back a bit on a few things, but what good is that if you are not productive, if you are just worrying about lasting a while longer. I worked for years around old folks and now that I am getting there myself I can tell you that being old in this country is no picnic. I refuse to be shoved aside and ignored and I definitely refuse to try and eke out an extra year or two by watching every morsel I eat, or by spending hours tormenting my already much worn body in a gym. I have too much to do to worry about stretching out my final years. I love life too much to waste it by clinging to it.