MUSINGS and other writing by Mark Kolke

. . . . . . there is no edge to openness

TODAY'S MUSINGS

FEEDBACK / COMMENTS

MARK SPEAKS

ARCHIVED COLUMNS

ARCHIVE SPRING 2023

ARCHIVE WINTER 2022-23

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2022

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2022

ARCHIVE SPRING 2022

ARCHIVE WINTER 2021-22

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2021

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2021

ARCHIVE SPRING 2021

ARCHIVE WINTER 2020-21

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2020

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2020

ARCHIVE SPRING 2020

ARCHIVE WINTER 2019-20

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2019

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2019

ARCHIVE SPRING 2019

ARCHIVE WINTER 2018-19

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2018

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2018

ARCHIVE SPRING 2018

ARCHIVE WINTER 2017-18

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2017

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2017

ARCHIVE SPRING 2017

ARCHIVE WINTER 2016/17

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2016

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2016

ARCHIVE SPRING 2016

ARCHIVE WINTER 2015/16

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2015

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2015

ARCHIVE SPRING 2015

ARCHIVE WINTER 2014/15

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2014

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2014

ARCHIVE SPRING 2014

ARCHIVE WINTER 2013/14

CONTACT

MY REAL ESTATE LIFE

WHY I WRITE MUSINGS

SHORT STORY PROJECT

POETRY PROJECT

MARK'S SPEAKING TIPS

SELECTED OTHER WORK

     
 
OLD CEILING TIME
Monday, January 24, 2022    
 
 
Some days what we do is good, but not good enough.
 
Some days what I write is good, but not good enough.
 
Some days are good, and we need to realize that is always good enough.
 
Not to imply we cannot do better, but we don’t have to. Nobody is whipping us, nobody is making us choose between the carrot or the stick, and while the world is not racing to ruin on a speedboat, nobody is exhorting us to save it or blaming us if we don’t.
 
Life will go on without us – it already is, every day. Life effortlessly passes us by, and we don’t have to lift a finger. In the millennia of history will be just so many ashes or dust.
 
Age, ageing, ageism – these are real for people of all ages.
 
What do I mean?
 
What separates us is, quite obviously – health, more than health, is attitude. Should we be leading or following? Should we be in the human race or on the sidelines?
 
It makes me wonder, through the ages, if it were possible – what messages the great minds would send us from the grave, what pitfalls they would warn against, what advice they would give so we might better enjoy and make useful, all the chapters of our book.
 
There is a moving ceiling separating us – those who see themselves below the ceiling, still enjoying youth while they see those above the ceiling as a progression to end-of-life and irrelevance.
 
Those who see themselves as above the ceiling – looking down on memories of youth, looking forward and upward to things they can now do. Unencumbered by the need to build a life, career or family, the freedom to pursue the fulfilment of unrequited dreams.
 
What separates these two camps goes beyond differences in where the ceiling is – be that 55, 65, or 95 – that point at which there is no question of crossing over. It’s how we see ourselves, where we are on the continuum, vis-à-vis where we see everyone else.
 
I want a few more decades. I cannot retrieve the ones gone by, so I need to use the one ahead for everything I’ve not done yet.
 
Talk about defining a deadline …
 
 
Reader feedback:
 
MORAL OR METAPHOR
So how might one apply air tag technology to finding people one wishes one hadn’t lost (track of)?, DP, Calgary, AB
 
 
Some recent talks: Mark Speaks


 


 
 

Link to all my contact coordinates + links

Comments are always welcome - please contribute to the discussion.  

Reply to: kolke@markkolke.com

Copyright - all rights reserved - Mark Kolke, © 2003-2023 - MaxComm Communications

 - this site is updated daily - last update - 2023 / March 14