HABITATION - CARE FOR SENIORS AND THEIR HOUSING
I
am my own old age
There
is not any experience where we would not find a lesson. When we stop learning,
our lives will end in the true sense of the word. Yet the sense of life
means to live, to enjoy our lives and embark on new and more hectic experiences
without fear.
The only
way how to find out what is possible is often tracking down what is impossible,
in other words, making mistakes.
Ageing
is nothing else than a bad habit for which a really busy person has no
time at all. You cannot determine the length of your life but you can
give it its wideness and intensity. You cannot determine the features
of your face but you can rule its expression. You cannot direct the others´
approach to their opportunities either but you can take yours up. You
can devote yourself to things you can influence.
There
was a time in my life when I doubted the values of ageing and the old
age itself. Now I have already lost my doubts. I do not want to avoid
my old age in the same way as I would not want to leap over my childhood
and adolescence. I surely feel my growing responsibility to my future
self and to those whose lives possibly cross my life. What an old man
I am going to be in case I live to the ripe age?
The
answer depends on what a person I am right now. Old age is a period which
has been awaiting me for all my lifetime.
Having a chance to find something by which a man will lead his life
after his productive age is no less important than a good pension or drawn
burial allowance. After all, using our ancestors´ wisdom, " every
age has its own adventures if the heart is not dead".
And
dying is the most treacherous ailment that can afflict our grown grey
civilization.
U3A, 5 April 2002
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