THE NEW FRONTIER

When we were quite young, we were just so proud holding up three fingers, announcing, “I am three”. Thirteen, eighteen, nineteen and twenty-one were milestones. Each age heralded new responsibilities and opportunity for personal growth. As we reached our thirties, most of us were relieved to have survived our tumultuous teens and early twenties. As we aged, we began to learn about the world around us. Sometimes it was not a good place. We, hopefully, learned from our mistakes and celebrated our achievements. These were the times of experimenting. We developed new relationships. With each new experience we learned more about ourselves. Personal growth can be quite painful. We learned to accept there were things we could change and those we could not. We also learned we had to change our perception/thinking and to move on. The moving on was the hard part! Ah, but again, we learned the world does not rotate around us.

Aging through the thirties and forties is a busy time of challenges and new responsibilities.
While we were busy doing, going, being and learning, suddenly fifty came out of nowhere. Time went into warp speed. Our friends aged but us, well, maybe not so much. One ‘gift’ humans have is that of self-deception. Parents, relatives and friends died. Some people our age now investigated retirement homes. Travel became difficult due to infirmities. Our children were busy leading their own lives. Our grandchildren were now adults and off to acquire their own life education. Bless their little souls.

What does the elderly person have left? The next step in our existence is the final frontier: our inevitable death! Did not someone once opine ‘we were born to die’. What we are is what we leave behind us. Be kind.