The Glass Is Half Full

Article by Arthur Levine.

When you get to be my age the chances are that you are an optimist, or you wouldn’t have gotten to this wonderful point in your life. You have to believe that the best is yet to come, or drown your thoughts and emotions in melancholy remembrances of events past. I prefer to look to the future to get my kicks.

I think a review of what people in their fifties and sixties plus can still excel at is in order as an ego booster. That’s right, even people in the new middle aged group (fifties through sixties plus) need to have their egos massaged once in a while otherwise we might get rusty and become unhinged. Now there is a truly terrible thought. Where are my painkillers when I might need them? I am afraid I may be having a senior moment.

Let’s get on to the review of what we excel at before I forget.

1. We definitely have more experience than anyone else except for people older than ourselves if such people actually exist.

2. We usually make shrewder political decisions than the starry eyed youth who believe in anyone who is long on dreams and general concepts, and short on details and execution.

3. We have learned over time to trust our instincts when making major decisions rather than relying on the pundits or so called wise men.

4. We have learned to rely on our faith to help us get through the tough times, and this has given us the strength to be tough enough to rise to the occasion.

5. We have learned to rely on our spouses as the only ones we can really trust when the going gets rough. We have learned that they are our best friends.

6. We can also feel good that we have the type of constitution that has provided us with the physical well being to get this far in our lives, and can be counted on to help us travel farther down the road if we just remember to take care of ourselves.

7. We have reached a point in our lives when we realize that there is beauty all around us, but that life is not pain free. We have learned to take the good with the bad.

How many people can claim to have learned and be experienced in such worthwhile life experiences? Perhaps it is our job to provide this knowledge to the younger generation if they will only listen. Perhaps it is up to us to provide a sense of stability to our Nation as we move forward to a brighter future. Maybe we have to spend more time with our grandchildren teaching them what we know. They are after all our link to immortality. It is through future generations, and how well we have been able to teach them what we know that we will live forever.

Who said the glass is half empty. We are just beginning the best part of the journey, and hopefully everyone joining us will have a thirst for knowledge.

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