Crying
Wind Homepage
|
from Volume 25 No.
6 May-June 2005
|
Don't
die before you are dead
People
give up too soon. They retire too early.
When
I was a kid, people who were over the age of 40 were old.
People over 60 were ancient. They talked about retiring,
resting and visiting the grandkids. Once they hit 60,
they started eating safe, sensible food and took vitamins.
People
are living longer, healthier lives. They say that over
one third of the people who are in their 30s can now expect
to live to be 100.
It
used to be a big deal to live to be 100. You got your
picture in the paper and a letter from the president or
prime minister. People gave you a party and you got a
cake with 100 candles on it (which usually melted into
the frosting before you got all of them blown out). But
if one-third of the people live to be a century old, we'll
probably have to live to be 120 before we get the big
party.
It
is okay to retire from your job...but don't retire from
your life. If you retire at 65, you could have another
30 years ahead of you. That is a lifetime. Don't waste
it sitting in a chair.
I
had a beautiful border collie named Joe. It's hard to
remember a time I didn't have Joe but he was getting old
and I knew he probably couldn't live much longer. I thought
his time had come one morning when he couldn't get up.
He just lay on his rug; he wouldn't eat or drink and was
too weak to lift his head. I went out into the woods and
dug a grave and made a marker with Joe's name on it.
When
I went back into the house I tried again to give Joe a
drink of water but I couldn't lift his head. The buckle
on his collar was caught on the carpet, holding him flat
on the floor. As soon as I took off his collar and set
him free, he ate his food, drank his water and when I
put him outside, he raced around the yard like a pup.
There
was nothing wrong with Joe except his collar got caught
on the rug and I'd given him up for dead and dug his grave
too soon. Joe lived three more happy, healthy years.
I
learned something from Joe. Don't give up on life too
soon and don't let anybody dig your grave before you're
dead!
