The Older I Get the Faster I Was

As we enter into the winter slice of our four season playground, I find myself omitting many of the thrill seeking adventures and "one of these days we're gonna do that" quests. There was a time when jumping out of an airplane and doing some skydiving or trying to catch "that perfect wave" were on the top ten things to do along with strapping a couple pieces of wood to my feet and hitting mock 4 down a ski hill. Now, would you believe, the dessert section of a cruise ship at 2 a.m. would be an adventure worth taking. No matter how hard I try to get past the obituaries, I have to take a quick look; not to see if I am there but to grunt that knowing grunt seeing someone I knew. With all the paranoid scares brought forward from all the news sources around the world, it is amazing that we are actually still alive. From the air we breath down to the spinach we eat, the headlines continually suggest we are all doomed. In our local papers we call it sensationalism, attention grabbers or, if you have all your oars working in unison, you call them humorous headlines; especially if your mind is at home on "The Far Side". Here are a few examples that opened up so many funny pictures to me: "Fatal crash stops cocaine flight', 'Bottle drive staged by school', 'Court Watch gets justice eye-opener', 'Crack house bust at familiar location', 'Police dog helps collar two suspects in crack house raid', Disturbed by .44 magnum shot', 'Old bank vault doors searching for a new task. But I digress. I placed on our web site: www.seniorsnet.ca a list of all the taxes we pay, starting from about 100 years ago. Most of them were to be "short term" assistance for a menagerie of problems...mostly governmental. Those were the days when families would do the strangest things for entertainment. They depended on what was called "an imagination"...the key part of the word is image. Girls would play house using old socks or hand made dolls for their imaginary friends. The guys had toys made out of wood built usually by a caring grampa or dad. No T.V. or radio, just the stars in the heavens and versions of the "three R's" during the day. Today? The frustration and ramifications of stress and boredom have woven a blanket of confusion around the world. Very few places are left that are "innocent" to the world of technology. A movie called "The Gods Must Be Crazy" comes to mind. Now there you go; a perfect example. Almost everything today is luxury or convenience driven. We send email hugs now. We visit exotic lands at the push of a button. We then find it strange that the children of today are having so many problems, along with their foster parents. Yes, I am getting tired of all this input; tired of this subconscious fear of doom. Respecting the fact we are human and have this built in need for more stuff, I find as time ticks along that fishing has a real meaning now. Having a cat in my lap or my dog by my side is very pleasant. Putting my mind to a place in time where a smile is automatic allows the silent serenity that the younger folks pay dearly for. The world, according to most of the "older" people I talk to in the bank or department store lineups, has evolved into one big dream. Simple faith and careers that were the working corner stones to our golden years are no longer the three "R's". The "sons" in Johnson, Robinson or Smithson are a far off thought. When we look at the stars we see satellites. I think I now know why there was water on Mars.

 

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