An Ending, A New Start

Isn’t it amazing how quickly this year has gone by? How could twelve months have sped by so fast. It seems we were enjoying Christmas just a short while ago, does it not? Yet, here we are again in the midst of this busy and amazing time of the year.

          The bright lights and colors all around us warm our hearts and lift our spirits. It seems that people smile more easily at strangers and are more eager to lend a hand to friends or to those who are less fortunate. And we are more ready to forgive. We live the Spirit of the Season. And, I suppose, because we know that this season of joy will end much too quickly, we are more aware than at any other time of the year of the importance of living each moment to the fullest.

         For those of us who no longer have youngsters at home, Christmas is less about the latest toys and more about spending this special time with our loved ones and sharing warm memories.

         Christmas also means we’re coming to the end of another year and that we are offered a new start in 2016. It is something that is welcomed by those of us who were tested this year and are looking to a new horizon full of hope.

         For everyone it is a time to plan the things we’ve been putting off, trips we’ve been meaning to take, friendships we’ve been wanting to renew. Indeed a time for resolutions. My resolution is in fact a prayer that the world may work toward a lasting peace.

         May your Christmas be very special. May the Spirit of the Season be with you long after the decorations have been once again safely stored away for next December.

         I’m taking time away from my blog for a few weeks to enjoy the season to the utmost, and will return in January. Love and peace.

Ageism and the Art of Aging

Everyone ages. No one escapes. As my mother used to say: it’s the only justice in the world.

Aging can be a challenge, and most of us get better at facing it with each passing year. However, not everyone goes peacefully. Some people love to bitch all the way cursing and blaming the world for their problems, real or imagined. The rest smile and take steps to improve whatever needs improving in their lives or simply accept their changing reality and make the most of years of experience.

Then aging becomes somewhat freeing, don’t you think? I mean, as you age you stop worrying about what people might think about you because you realize that they seldom do. They are too busy worrying about themselves.

Aging frees you to be yourself, to express yourself as you see fit. You no longer accept people treating you with disrespect so you face those guilty of discrimination head on. The average person might think that discrimination based on age does not exist, but it does. Ageism is a hidden cancer in our society, and it can be subtle and directed at boomers with a bit of gray hair not just the very elderly. We should not be afraid to speak up against it.

Even health care professionals are guilty of ageism, preferring to care for younger people because older people “will die soon anyway” I heard one doctor say recently when I accompanied an ailing older relative to a medical clinic. Yeah, sure, but that doctor will experience aging only if he is one of the lucky ones, and then he might well prefer receiving proper care rather than being dismissed because of his age.

No matter where we are in life, we all to fight ageism just as we do when confronted with other forms of discrimination so that everyone can feel they belong.

Then, as we get older we can feel secure in the realization that we have accumulated experience and wisdom that can benefit younger people. And we can be proud of the wisdom we continue to accumulate.

Recently, when I made a remark about life to an acquaintance, she commented that I was very wise. I felt so very proud that decades of living are yielding recognition. At last!

         May we all be recognized as being adept in the art of aging. It is after all a crowning step of life.

 

 

A New Generation

Over the years, each generation has been qualified in some way, i.e. The Boomers. What moniker should we give the newest group that is following us? Preschoolers living their lives in the world of electronics? They certainly exist in a world quite different from the one we or our children ever experienced. Today, kids as young as three or four go around playing games on their devices hardly taking time away from screens to answer the call of nature, no doubt inspired by the Millennial Generation who are proficient at texting at the speed of light.  It’s not that long ago that only a few people had television sets. What an amazing social evolution since that time!

            Today, computers dominate so many facets of our lives. They seem to even have replaced dolls for little girls. I’m not sure it is necessarily a bad thing. Today’s girls are growing up knowing that they are part of the larger world and not limited to the traditional role of females. Their options are certainly more numerous than they were for women of my generation.

            Of course, no one has ever escaped the reality of the world’s duality. Wherever humans go, whatever humans do they will face the certainty that alongside good, negativity manages to flourish. While the youngest generation may have more options than we ever did, I think parents and grandparents need to be more vigilant in assessing the games (some rather violent) and the information with which their youngest ones are bombarded. 

            There’s virtue in everyone being aware that living in front of a screen is not the only choice in life, and while today’s electronic devices are here to stay their use should be tempered so it does not become the only activity in a young child’s world.