Age, Experience, and the Nature of All Things. Now there’s an interesting topic that probably most of us pay little or no attention to. First the age groups…
1-4 years old – you are learning some things on your own, but mostly what you parents are teaching you. Everything works out great here, not too much is expected other than learning that universal word… “NO”. It’s the one syllable word meaning to cease and desist all you are doing… immediately! You know this especially from the tone and demeanor of the person speaking to you. Grrrrr!
4-12 years old – you are learning more and getting more experience… and with that comes a ever increasing ability to start to master the nature of things. The word “No” becomes less and less impressive and emanate physical contact of the spanking kind becomes more of motivator for you to listen to your parents. This is usually followed by the developing attitude to be independent and defiant of one’s parents, although somewhat wasted at this point in your life… you were not going to win. By the way… if you are a fast learner, you will learn quickly that telling your parents that the spanking “Didn’t Hurt” is NOT an indication that their efforts are useless & ineffective… but an invitation for them to try harder for the spanking to make an better impression… thus increasing their level of deterrence.
13-18 years old – experience and mastering and dealing with the Nature of things increases with each passing year. The more you know, the more you think you know, so you come to the ever increasing conclusion that you know almost everything up to and surpassing the experience & knowledge of your parents. The word “No” becomes merely a dare, the spanking thing has out grown it’s usefulness and is no longer a threat, and the new practice of limiting or temporally suspending benefits come into play. Going to your room to think about what you have done merely removes you from the current situation, and the thought processes involved are not to the end that your parents had hoped… well… you did think about what you did to upset them, to a great extent, but the thought process was not to avoid doing what you did, but how to do it and get away with it the next time and not get caught. You do have a good foundation to deal with the nature of things, so you have a new confidence in yourself. Yep you have pretty much mastered all the childhood things and are ready to tackle the world.
19-25 years old - Having mastered all the childhood things, you think you are ready for anything the world had to throw at you. So you are off and running. The rules and grown up situations have changed drastically but that’s of little concern… you are ready to grab the world by the tail. Parents have nothing left to offer but advise & counseling… and knowing that this will fail to impress you, much less be taken seriously… hope, pray, and prepare to help them handle their mistakes after the fact. But you do learn more quickly and start to master the Nature of things. Trial and error, the good with the bad, and perhaps realizing despite your state of disbelief, that what your parents have told you could have been majorly beneficial of only you had listened. It’s all part of growing up.
25-45 years old – Life is sweet, you are invincible! You are your own boss and most things always seem to work out for the best and those that don’t become smaller and smaller and easier to handle. Your parents have a sigh of relief because they have done everything they could to ensure that you turned out okay… and you did! You have years of experience and mastered the Nature of things, and life is breeze! You have your own family, your own kids and for the life of you… you can’t understand why the logical approach doesn’t work on your kids… what’s wrong with them anyway? Just a small bump in the road that seems to get bigger as they get older.
45-55 years old – Things are changing quickly. You don’t feel as invincible as you do 20 years ago… but you have years of knowledge and experience at mastering the Nature of things to get you through. The kids are grown, out on their own, and seeming need you less and less… and while it is a bit of a relief, it’s also a bit of a unneeded feeling. There’s the joy of the grand kids mostly without the negative things that kids go through… after all… you can send them home when they fall below the 80% being Good line. You can handle everything life has to through at you both emotionally and physically. Looking forward to and easier life in retirement where you can slow down and enjoy a slower life and take in every little thing.
55+ years old- Yep… retirement is great. You have all the time to do everything you wanted to do and didn’t have the time to do or fully enjoy when your day to day life was fast and hectic. The biggest plus is that you get to spend 24/7 with your Sweetie, the Love of your Life, your best friend, your soul mate… and have every moment together for the rest of your lives… peaceful and enjoying every moment together. You are reminded from time to time that you are certainly not as immortal as you were at 25… physically… well… you ain’t as good as you once was. But that’s a small thing to deal with. No real health problems but daily meds help to keep things in check. Stamina is diminished a bit, but more occasional rest stops compensates nicely, and after all, your not in any hurry anymore, for anything. Naps seem to creep back into your life a bit more… but you have time for that too! And life is too short to stress out or be in a hurry. There’s a reason why this saying came to be… you are closer to the end than the beginning… and your remaining years need to be “quality” and moments appreciated and enjoyed more. Being older is also sometimes referred to as a second childhood. More carefree, less stress, not hectic, and you, as I have, can let the child in you resurface and have your days filled mostly with fun and relaxing… taking nothing too serious. All of life’s big problems have been solved or just don’t matter anymore… so not much annoys you or is of great concern anymore. Life is indeed Sweet!
Here’s a few of the big changes that happen by this time in your life:
- Not much is worth getting stressed over or upset about… save yourself… don’t even try! THIS A GOOD THING! or should I borrow a well know saying…. “PRICELESS!”
- Politics … If you are smart, you will realize that they are all crooks and they will eat the steak that you paid for, and throw you the bones… you should be happy (sarcastically) … don’t stress over politics, they all have their own agenda, you are their least concern, and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it, so why worry about it. Vote them out, vote them in, government is too filled with corruption to ever change.
- Yes, government, big business, and our leaders all have a hidden agenda… yes, it’s all a conspiracy, one way or another, and you are going to loose! The news media is their tool to exploit, manipulate, further their agenda so that while you are always concentrating or concerned on one of their diversions, so they can do anything they want to do, largely unnoticed by the American Public. For the most part, you are only going to have what they allow you to have so that you remain a productive part of the “working” society… supporting the wealthy and the welfare state.
- The working guy in society is merely a necessary element used by government and business to support the government and all it’s elements along with businesses, so that the wealthy have a good social environment in which to enjoy life to a higher level of standards as we also support the lower 20% that career live on welfare.
- On a less serious note, little things become harder to do. Things that you have mastered all your life somehow always seem to go a rye. Like repairing things. The reading glasses don’t help much either.
- Memory seems to be working against you too… at least sometimes… forget where you put things… or what you came into the room for. Good days… bad days… really can’t remember… go figure. On a positive note… all the things that use to keep you awake worrying before you went to sleep… well, you forgot them, so enjoy a good nights sleep.
- You take delight in the fact that all those people that still don’t get it and try to make everyone’s life miserable… well… they have to live with themselves all the time… they created their own hell… and they deserve it. I generally try to avoid them and take pleasure in this thought that they have to live in their own misery.
- You have the time to reflect on all the good in life and relationships with family and friends. Look for the good and enjoy the feeling. It’s just that generally, most are still too busy with their hectic lives to enjoy it with you.
- You come to realize something that your grandfather felt and meant ( when you were just a kid) when he went to buy a loaf of bread, saw the price, and said, “13¢ a loaf… you gotta be shitting me!” ( pardon my language… only way to express it… and it is a “quote” ). Now that you have seen a bottle of Coke go from 5¢ to $1.00 ($2.50 at Disney / $3.00 at Universal)… and you find yourself saying the same thing… now you know what he meant. Penny candy is long gone - 5¢ candy bars are $1 - $3,000 car is now $30,000 – 29¢/gallon gasoline is now $3.00 - 69¢ gallon of milk is $3.29 - and the list could go on and on. He was right… the perfect phase… “You Gotta be Shitting Me”! ( gain my pardon ).
- Generally everything changes… and generally not for the better. When it changes for the worst, you are going to pay more for it… and if it’s for the better, you are going to pay a a whole lot more for it.
- Creature comforts are absolutely better and you will have more time to enjoy them in retirement. But it does make you reflect on some of the changes over the years… but that’s another story for another time.
So, that’s my take on Age, Experience, and the Nature of “Things”. Could no doubt add much more to the list, but have other things to enjoy today… like a nap… or getting others things done, if only I could remember what they were. Yep… Life is Sweet. So Glad I have Shelly to share it with me.
