MUSINGS and other writing by Mark Kolke

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

TODAY'S MUSINGS

FEEDBACK / COMMENTS

MARK SPEAKS

MARK'S SPEAKING TIPS

ARCHIVED COLUMNS

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

SELECTED OTHER WORK

BE NOT WASTED

Tuesday Oct. 31, 2017


Youth is wasted on young folks, middle age is wasted on middle-aged folks, so this makes me wonder, Is old wasted on old folks or just ~ wasted?

I see so many people walking around, sitting around – going around with low energy, low expectations and few ideas. I wonder, which goes first – the mind, the body, or the belief that older years can be better years.

Maybe it’s just a fantasy, but I feel like I’m just rounding the big curve and merging on to a wide stretch of wide freshly paved highway – going uphill, in the sunshine, and there is nobody on MY ROAD, full throttle …

Why doesn’t everybody feel this way?

I think we are pre-programmed by governments, financial institutions and by our peers to think the end is near rather than far, that our capabilities and potential to accomplish things diminishes with aging. There is so much contrary evidence – but people buy-in to the retire early, ‘freedom 55’ and life of leisure mentality – though medical statistics show this baby-boomer generation are more prone to health problems and disease than ever. There is a percentage of us who are fit + feisty, fun + fastidious in terms of lifestyle and physical/mental activity, but we are a small minority. The older you get, the smaller that minority. Surely there are more of us …

The stages of life are not strata in a parfait or like cross-section of eroded river bank, revealing old sediment and sentiment, fossils and grit … but more like ‘stages’, places we stand in plain view of the crowd – or maybe just lost in the crowd.


SIGN UP get MUSINGS DAILY
For Email Marketing you can trust.

SIGN UP get MUSINGS DAILY
For Email Marketing you can trust.


Thanks for reading. I appreciate feedback, pro and con, and suggestions to help improve this column and this website are always welcomed - usually published the following day under COMMENTS RECEIVED.
 
Please write to me at: kolke@markkolke.com 

~
or, use this form ↓↓↓↓↓

First Name
Last Name
City
Province/State
Country
E-mail Address
Comments
 
Please use this FEEDBACK COMMENT form.
FEEDBACK / COMMENTS
←
 


sign up to get Musings free daily


Comments are always welcome - please contribute to the discussion.  Reply to: kolke@markkolke.com

You can also connect with me on LinkedIn. This site is updated daily, each column is retained in the archive when the next day's column is loaded ...  


Copyright - all rights reserved - Mark Kolke, © 2003-2021