The Counsel of the Years

 

By G. E. Shuman

 

For some reason, my columns seem to be getting a little more philosophical lately. I’m not sure why that is, other than as people get older, they probably consider the spiritual and emotional areas of life more. The awesome paper you’re reading right now has always given me free reign in my subject matter here, and for that I will always be grateful.

So, I sit at the computer every other week and write about whatever comes to mind. Sometimes the subject might be on the humorous side; sometimes it is quite serious. I am not a trained literary or writing expert, for which I am very thankful. I do what I do because I just love expressing my thoughts through writing.

 I am just like you, and I believe that is the key to this column’s success. People often come up to me on the street and thank me for some little thing I wrote that touched their heart or made them laugh. They always say how they identify with my thoughts here, which is a great honor to me. My secret is that we really are much alike, all of us, and have similar experiences in life.

So, this week, here is what I’d like to share with you. A friend once told me that the older we get the closer our emotions get to the surface. Boy, what a statement of truth that is. He said that to me many years ago, and even then, a heartfelt piece of music or emotional story would affect me greatly. These days a few words of God’s truth spoken in a Sunday morning sermon or a hug from one of my grandkids can turn this old curmudgeon into Jim Carrie’s Grinch as he sobbingly states: “And I’m leaking.”

We lost a lifelong friend last week. He was eighty-seven and terribly ill, but such realities didn’t strike me until, as I watched, one moment he was with us… and the next instant he no longer was. The tide of emotion for me at that moment was almost more than I could stand. I have since thought some of those emotions through and believe that my reactions were in the incredulity of what had happened. My life seems so steady, so ongoing that I know I don’t realize how much ‘ongoing’ there has been. Other than for a few aches and pains and lack of ambition, I don’t feel much different from when I was in my forties. (Actually, I lacked ambition back then too, I think.) We have lived in our home for so many years it seems like nothing will ever change… then I look in the mirror and realize just how much they already have. Oh well.

I hesitate to use this quote here, but I have always liked the honesty of it. In the movie Space Cowboys, an aging ex-astronaut, after being asked to do one more mission, casually states, “Everybody seems to be dead lately.” Well, the older I get, the more things do seem that way. My generation is quickly becoming the ‘old folks’ of the world. Those middle age ‘40s I referred to are getting pretty distant in the rear-view mirror these days.

But that’s all okay. In fact, that’s the way things are supposed to be. One of my favorite poems is the long and instructional “Desiderata,” meaning ‘desired things’ by Max Ehrmann ©1927. One of its best admonitions reads as follows: “Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.”  It’s not easy, but I’m trying my best to do just that.