Sliding into irrelevance
Something about this old rusty Folgers coffee can lying out in the rain, amongst pine needles and old bricks, really spoke to me. (It was that kind of day.)
The rusty coffee can started me thinking about aging. Whereas we thought we'd be cherished as we got older - after all, there's all that living we've done, all the water under the bridge and over the dam, all that accumulated wisdom gained from our great wealth of 'life experience,' it doesn't seem to work out that way.
We ought to be the most revered people on the planet. But I think that in this country, anyway, as people age we slide into 'irrelevance.' We're not the people whose opinion 'matters.' We're no longer the movers and shakers - although we do know:
We ought to be the most revered people on the planet. But I think that in this country, anyway, as people age we slide into 'irrelevance.' We're not the people whose opinion 'matters.' We're no longer the movers and shakers - although we do know:
- how to live within our means,
- to save for something before we buy it,
- to look at something and see another use for it rather than throwing it out,
- how to live on a shoestring and not feel deprived,
- enough to ignore much of the fashion world that wants us to keep buying more
- that true happiness is not something we gain from other people, but from our relationship with God and an understanding that we are sinners saved by grace,
- that every good and perfect gift comes from our Father in heaven, not from the federal government.
- that very few things are important enough to split up friendships and families
- to carefully ponder whether it's God honoring to do so.
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And just in case my children are wondering: No, I do not feel discarded. :-) But I do think that we, as a nation, don't realize the wealth of wisdom in the collective 'elderly' that is discarded, rather than mined and treasured.
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