Glad I Did What I Did? You Bet!

Today is my birthday. My God, I am now half way through my octogenarian years!  I am starting to press in on the nineties! Like Frank Sinatra - "Regrets? I've have a few, But then again, too few to mention." As the years roll by, and the numbers get larger, I suppose it is only natural to think less and less of my birthday, my beginning, and more and more of the time I have left, my end. After all, they say, birthdays are only numbers!

 Seneca, not the college, the philosopher, in his  work On the Shortness of Life, points out that life 'rushes by so speedily that many really only find some meaning in life and are ready to live at the end'.  What a shame! I agree with the part about life rushing by, but I wish the last part of his observation is untrue. It is not so much  that we have so little time on earth, but rather it's so easy to waste so much of it. It is strange how protective we can be of our possessions. If someone were to steal our car we would immediately call the police and make every effort to get it back. But then we allow  - an ugly boss, an obstreperous friend, a bitter enemy, a closed mind, an unhealthy relationship - to steal our precious time!

What I like about celebrating my birthday is the opportunity to be with friends and be reminded that life is a pure gift. It's the best present of all because it was something freely given. And as I grow older I also realize every new day, like my first birthday, is also a new beginning of life that I should not waste and squander, for there is no guarantee that I will be alive tomorrow.

I suppose those who know would call it my 'mid-life' crisis. But at the time I realized I was just drifting, tied to the status quo and living  a  predetermined role. I was a round peg in a round hole. I was simply an actor on the stage of life, not a participant in life itself. "All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players" - Shakespeare's As You Like It. I thought I had it made, and yet, something was missing. So I set out to seriously examine my life with its traditions and beliefs. I also knew that the changes taking place in the world around me were influencing my static and fixed view of reality. I had heard of Eric Eriksons Theory about the eight stages of life, but somehow it didn't work that way for me. I was smug and content, I knew the script by heart and all was well - or so I thought.

Perhaps the turning point was when one of my professors seriously described me as 'walking refrigerator.' I have been called many things, but that one scared the proverbial 'shit' out of me. I knew the time had come to get serious about who I was and what I wanted from life, not what others thought I should do and be.

No, eighty-five does not scare me, it's wonderful. Have I ever thought about some of the opportunities I turned down? The answer is - "of course." But then again I can look back on the road I finally followed and, like Frank Sinatra, realize I have very few regrets. As the T-shirt says, "Life is Good."

So if Dick had his own way everyone would be free, once they reached maturity, to make their own choices and follow their own dreams. But for many in the world, that is still impossible and, as Seneca pointed out, even those who are free don't realize their potential until it is too late.

I guess I was one of the lucky ones. And  Oh Yes - I appreciate the birthday greetings, the great party and all you folks who take the time to read my Blogs."

And that's Dick's View of the World this Week