One man's comments on everything


Tuesday, September 24, 2013

The Human Spirit and growing old(er)

Recently whilst watching a bit of Rugby (which incidentally was a great achievement for me as I view rugby as reasonably monotonous, as is most sport ) some quotes on advertisements by one of the sponsors about the human spirit caught my eye.  The fact that the sponsor is a bank really surprised me as I have never seen a bank align themselves with their quotes.    This one doesn't either. But that is not the reason for this post

The Human spirit. It does not grow old so why should our thinking do ?
When we have no more challenges the human spirit will start decaying - It has nothing to do.  So what am I saying ?  

We have moved into a retirement village recently and somehow suddenly things are starting to change. The way of thinking in the village is different. Everything is happening slower. Ok not everything - I haven't seen more of a hive of activity from workers like over here.  Everyday something is being done somewhere. Roads are cleaned, communal grass is being watered and cut, new trees are being planted all over the village etc.
Come evening ,around 4.30 or so the workers disappear magically and the residents start walking themselves and their dogs. Now suddenly it is time for chatting and if your door is open yesterday's new friend might just pop in.  Got to get used to this !

The point I am getting to : Retirees are not old people - they are just perceived to be so.   They have the knowledge of a lifetime and once one starts to chat with them you find out that all they want is to be acknowledged. And to become a friend or acquire a new one.   You are not here to impress anyone - Should you have a flashy car that is your problem - no one is impressed. I think the fact that every single one of us had to unclutter our lives ( I literally threw away at least 40 years of accumulated junk which is more than what is left ) is a bit of an equalizer.

I will be posting some more on this subject in the coming months - just have to align myself to this new life !

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