On the Move Again

As I write this blog on a quiet Sunday morning, the tropical sun is just emerging out of the warm waters of the Caribbean Sea, or so it appears. Here, on the east side of St Maarten's Island, in a quiet sandy cove called Guana Bay, I finally learned how to connect my wifi!  

I am sitting on our large deck near the edge of the porous coral that protects the fresh water swimming pool from the pounding surf. Off to the right, and through the waving palm trees, I can see the white foam rushing up and down the empty beach. Yesterday morning when I went for my barefoot walk on the rich brown sand, I met but one other solitary person.

In such a place as this there is time to read, to think and to reflect on how wonderful life can be but, at the same time, to realize how wretched we humans treat our environment and each other. I am reading the second book of Ken Follett's Century Trilogy, The Winter of the World. The first book, The Fall of Giants, is set in WWI and the second in WWII. How fortunate I am to have escaped such horror and the brutalization  of millions of innocent people. To what end, if the truth be told?

I make no bones about the fact that I have reached old age. But I have also escaped so much of the violence in this world. They say, whoever "they" are, that this is when I am supposed to experience some conflict between integrity and despair. It is true I ask myself, from time to time, what have I accomplished in my lifetime? Has my life on earth been a failure? I suppose it depends on what the criteria might be. On the other hand by not seeking greatness, as defined by history, have I been selfish and unsatisfied?

The famous 'they' also say that in old age we experience a decline in muscular strength, reaction time, hearing, a sense of smell and so on. I must confess this does sound familiar, especially when the old arthritis grabs the back of my right leg! But a decline in mental ability - dementia or Alzheimers disease! Well I don't know you will have to ask my wife. I must confess however, that I do misplace my glasses from time to time!

In the end I define greatness and success in being able to find love and happiness in this short life. Since that is my  criteria for greatness and success, then my life has been most successful and I don't give a damn what others say!

And that's Dicks View of the World this Week.