Today JMN challenged me to write on Continuing the Journey. On reason probably was that here in the midst of the 87th year of life this man two decades younger that I is showing respect by giving me a challenge. Another possible reason may be that he is just plain curious. I would not call it voyeurism but it smacks of the universal curiosity about people different than myself. So here is an off-the-cuff piece of writing, warts and all.
1. Am I moving along on a journey or is the landscape/peoplescape moving past me? Certainly the culture of now is radically different than that of 87 some years ago. So the culture scape is moving while I am the personification of the past. They say, "Don't dwell in the past!". How can I avoid being in the past since I am the past? I really do not think that psychoanalysis or medications can accomplish much anything other than destroy me. That seems a pointless effort. Don't worry anyhow, I will soon be beyond and at least I will not be a bother to those dedicated to fixing.
2. Within myself I sense a moving current of change that simply cannot lead to other than me being in the Beyond. The price of aging of the human body/mind differs person to person only in degree. Muscle strength, mental acuity, sensory organs such as eyes and ears degrade. Response to stimuli is increasingly limited. This process does not ask permission but simply arrives. Then a person has to decide whether to make desperate efforts to extend life no matter the cost to family, community, government and the environment. On the other hand one can count up the blessings, relationships and accomplishments and bid adieu.
3. The place of religion makes a difference. I am Christian. The notion of the Creator as a refuge is elemental to the faith. Whatever the nature of that refuge may be we know not. A sense of meaning is at the heart of looking forward. Having accompanied my true love Joan through Memory Loss to the Beyond, I know something of the sense of evil leading to triumph in the story of life for some of us. Events on the Journey simply happen and we respond as best we can.
4. So concludes this first response to "continuing the journey". Until we meet again....Love is our linking hope.
Delton
1. Am I moving along on a journey or is the landscape/peoplescape moving past me? Certainly the culture of now is radically different than that of 87 some years ago. So the culture scape is moving while I am the personification of the past. They say, "Don't dwell in the past!". How can I avoid being in the past since I am the past? I really do not think that psychoanalysis or medications can accomplish much anything other than destroy me. That seems a pointless effort. Don't worry anyhow, I will soon be beyond and at least I will not be a bother to those dedicated to fixing.
2. Within myself I sense a moving current of change that simply cannot lead to other than me being in the Beyond. The price of aging of the human body/mind differs person to person only in degree. Muscle strength, mental acuity, sensory organs such as eyes and ears degrade. Response to stimuli is increasingly limited. This process does not ask permission but simply arrives. Then a person has to decide whether to make desperate efforts to extend life no matter the cost to family, community, government and the environment. On the other hand one can count up the blessings, relationships and accomplishments and bid adieu.
3. The place of religion makes a difference. I am Christian. The notion of the Creator as a refuge is elemental to the faith. Whatever the nature of that refuge may be we know not. A sense of meaning is at the heart of looking forward. Having accompanied my true love Joan through Memory Loss to the Beyond, I know something of the sense of evil leading to triumph in the story of life for some of us. Events on the Journey simply happen and we respond as best we can.
4. So concludes this first response to "continuing the journey". Until we meet again....Love is our linking hope.
Delton
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