So, i went away. I had a very busy week from January 16 to 20,including having to go to a funeral. Fortunately, this was the funeral of a friend's parent, and not of a friend. Those are getting closer, I know, but at least not yet.
Then I went away. Took off to the South to find some sea and sun. Being of this transitional age, we now have friends who are there when we get there. More and more of them are taking time, many are taking much more time than we are. They are either older, richer, or laid-off and letting it all go. So this trip was different. I usually go away with just my wife and maybe we will meet someone as we travel, as we have gotten good at stranger-travel conversation. I find that interesting to talk to people from other cultures, like Mississippi, which we did last year. Now we are meeting our own friends, and this time we meet with their friends, each of whom had brought along a friend.
So there we were, at one time there were more than a dozen of us; old wrinkled people, charming, well read, well intentioned, but certainly not as attractive as any of us once were. It's a shame. I realized how much I like to be with attractive people. It tinges things with a bit of excitement.
Now we talk about art and food and wine. (I don't like wine, I'm a beer or whiskey {not whisky} guy). These folks were very interesting, well read, well traveled, successful. We were way down at the Southern end of the country, but we all had lived most of our lives up here within a twenty mile radius of each other. Small world? His kid had played basketball for the same high school my kid played for, only four years earlier, but we had never met. They were business people, an artist, a writer,an editor, a couple of teachers.
But everyone was kind of a bit confused about what comes next. Do we just amuse ourselves, or can we find a way to help the world do a little better. We all agreed that it certainly needed the help. No one was particularly asking for out help, except to send checks. But all of us were amazed and disturbed to see that how the people who want to be leaders are so full of fury, venom and destruction. Any talk of compromise or conciliation at any level, from the neighborhood to between two nations, was only seen as a sign of weakness.
I am back now, dealing with 18 messages, six new people in the middle of crises, with fewer people offering any way out. I won't be taking time off again for a while.
2 comments:
talk to people from other cultures, like Mississippi,
Do I detect a bit of light-heart of irony? :)
The world certainly needs the help of experienced, smart and charming, older people. It always has.
Sometimes it's as simple as writing a blog post. You never know whose life you'll touch with your words that day.
But as far as grown kids are concerned, older parents might just want to wait until they call us. Even then, less is more.
That's my experience from listening to my father and his siblings who are all in their 60s and 70s.
Another informative blog… Thank you for sharing it… Best of luck for further endeavor too.
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