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Old Man.
Topic Started: Sep 13 2016, 04:05 PM (92 Views)
crow
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An old man can do almost all the things a young man could do.
It's important, though, to adjust the way those things are done, to take into account the effects of age.

Anything you do involves three steps: beginning, doing, and finishing.
The young man has trouble with the first and the last.
The old man has trouble with the first and second.
The wise man has no trouble with the first and third, but some trouble with the second.

Beginning is simple, once you realize there's nothing to it.
Doing is simple, once you realize that doing is an incremental thing, easily broken down into discrete steps, while a pause may be taken, between them, to recover.
Finishing is as simple as simple gets: a quick scan to check that everything is as it should be, and nothing is incomplete.

The wise man only has any trouble at all, with the second, because he is ageing, which goes hand in hand with any wisdom he has managed to accrue. Being wise, however, he immediately grasps the necessity of adaptation to conditions. He moves deliberately, and slower than a young man would, yet faster than an old man.
Most importantly, he pauses, when he can, both to recover his energy, and to consider his next move.

My wife observed to me yesterday, that at 63 years old, I can still do things most young men couldn't do: swarming all over a high metal roof, at a forty-five degree pitch, safe-as-houses. Who am I to argue with her?



Edited by crow, Sep 13 2016, 04:06 PM.
"Squawk!" said the crow, and then made space.
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Ardy
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Crow: "swarming all over a high metal roof, at a forty-five degree pitch, safe-as-houses. Who am I to argue with her?"

In Australia, falling off roofs/ladders is the #1 accident resulting in death or serious injury in Men over 50. Followed by falling off motor cycles. A friend of mine fell off a ladder whilst working on a roof and although he tore a large hole in his leg the doctors x-rayed him twice as they had never seen a fall off a roof in a man over 50 that did not result in a bone break! Be careful (mindful?) when you are up there.
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crow
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Careful is what I am. As a younger man I was very accident prone, but that was then.
There are limits, of course; I can't move as I once could. One compensates.
I feel very ancient today, but maybe tomorrow I won't.
Thank you for your concern :)
"Squawk!" said the crow, and then made space.
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Ardy
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Crow: It amazes me how much my body can shift from day to day. I can't remember it being like this.

Something or someone is trying to kill me! It seems like they are succeeding..
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crow
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When you're young, you go weeks without noticing you feel bad. When older, you notice more and more often that your body is struggling to cope. As I had suspected I would, I feel orders of magnitude better than I did yesterday.
Sure, something is trying to kill you: the conspiracy of years.
Fortunately though, they are rarely able to mount a direct attack, and must work for a long-term result.
Hence Threescore Years and Ten, or for the strongest, Fourscore Years.

"Squawk!" said the crow, and then made space.
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Ardy
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If I run across the 'Conspiracy of years' I am going to punch it on the nose!!!
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crow
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Oh, that'll help, for sure.
"Squawk!" said the crow, and then made space.
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