Apologies to all the rabid grammarians out there but I removed the contraction apostrophe in the post title (and might yet regret leaving the comma in). It appears to me that these things insert all sorts of unexpected html gibberish if you leave them in place in titles. And I am not in the mood for html hieroglyphs on a good day. It's just another ol' Sam Ludd thing, you see.
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Thanks to your moral support (I WILL remember those who were kindly) when I really needed it, I have come up with this blog plan for the summer:
After today's post, I will be back on the 27th of June and will try to post a story by every Friday thereafter until autumn. Since there are so many stories yet to be shared, these postings might run a little longer than the previous ones and cover several subjects. I know, this is a long interval between posts but a necessary one at the moment.
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Here are the remnants of the old log barn built in the early 1900s. It seemed more fitting to memorialize it in the colorless sepia tones of that era when things were so much harder, so much more demanding of effort to accomplish even the slightest task. Shovels, picks, axes, sweat, a strong back and a powerful stubbornness. Supplies from the outside normally brought in by tall-standing Model Ts with rigid suspensions and near-gossamer tires as time, fortune and technology moved on. But that breed of stone-tough people had arrived by horse-drawn wagon over tracks which were yet to be forged or civilized, had to build their own shelter from scratch in either blistering heat or the inescapable bite of winter. They had no health insurance, no pension, no social hammock to fall back on. They died in the normal course of working and giving life. But they were strong and vibrant with few expectations and appreciated every blessing from nature, fate and the accomplishments wrung from their own calloused hands. Where has the one hundred years hence really brought us? We now die older ... but not necessarily more content and more fulfilled. How do you think and feel on this subject?.
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34 comments:
I like the plan... it's something I can definitely live with, and I hope YOU can live with it, too, Dear Lin.
As for your question... "We now die older ... but not necessarily more content and more fulfilled. How do you think and feel on this subject?"
Mixed emotions. I'm pretty danged content with life (with certain exceptions, over which I have zero control) and have reached an age most people only dreamed of 100 years ago. My greatest fear about old age is losing my independence. The absolute LAST thing I want to happen is to be shuttled off to an old-folks holding area and have to sit around... just waiting to die. That, and/or the specter of Alzheimer's (or some other mind-addling disease), which simply scares the Beejezus out of me. But. There's always the 9mm cure if push comes to shove.
Other than those things... a longer life is usually a great good thing, compared to the alternative.
Buck, I guess we'll just have to try this once-a-week post and see how it goes, got my fingers and toes crossed though!
Now that would be interesting - to compare the rate of long term elder care (both in home and institutional) per capita 100 years ago and now. How has it changed, or has it?
A long time ago, my sister decided that it would be preferable to have a deteriorated mind within a healthy body than a sharp mind trapped within a totally shot body. Wonder if she still feels that way? She might be working on both ... haven't heard any rumors lately (that should inspire an e-mail from her!). grin
Death does not bother me...kind of intriguing really. I've seen a few die close up and it was nothing. I was left standing with all the pain and they knew nothing at all. It's just one breath away.
As for slowing down for the summer...I hear you...I'm right there with you and will probably do the same soon.
I have another NYC post...maybe 2, then I'll be off to Alaska...a couple of post there, then it's back to the routine until Jeff comes in August...I'm sure there will be something out of that.
I'm tiring little my little of the pressure. Maybe I'll stick a fork in all.
Take it easy babe. We'll be here. I don't mind long posts, and it'll be easier for me to keep up with you posting now and then.
Oh, and yea, we're TRUELY living in the shadow of a greater generation or two, pissing away our inheritance as fast as we can. I don't envy the kids who will inherit what we leave behind.
I'm more than happy with how life is in general nowadays but I do think the lack of adversity in all its forms has made people somehow weaker in charcter and spirit.Life shouldn't be viewed as a struggle but sometimes being tested can develop charcteristics in one that can enrich life in unexpected ways.
Mushy, I think I can relate to your ambivalence and intrigue about death. Once, and sadly only once, I startled awake at night and felt nothing, literally nothing, no pain at all. That was one of the few times in my life that I have experienced fear; a fear not that I was dead but that moving just one muscle might make this time without pain go away forever. I dared not nudge Mark, move or say a word; it was too precious a peaceful moment to do anything at all.
As far as summer postings, how about if we start a Friday post group? One weekly post, one weekly tour of our blog friends, all until a cool autumn slows us all down again?
Wish you weren't doing Alaska this year since the big loop of states missed takes you right through NM. The new Rat Town might be a quasi-civilized reality by next year.
Gee, now why do I agree that a visit from Jeff will be an event all in itself?
FHB, I was thinking that you might like the new weekly schedule. I know I can't keep up with daily posters myself and it just kills me.
Yeah, I really do worry about what legacy and examples we are leaving our following generations. Will they cope if there is a break in curling iron and cell phone recharging power? I don't like the thought of them reinventing the wheel all over for themselves. I would bet they can manage it but I don't think we have been practical in what we have chosen to endow them with.
thud, grin! ... I would very much love to have you come out here for a month or more. Aside from your building and innovation expertise that I would adore, I know that you would start to ponder such odd things as well, I just know it. You already have the notion that elimination of challenge is not necessarily the good and kind thing to cast upon humanity. These canyon lands bring it into perspective in stark and immediate ways. Let me know when you are ready - you will love it!
Okay ... well I'm not entirely happy with it .... but a little Lin is better than no Lin at all.
I'll be here every Friday!!
Towanda, you are a sweety! Now think about all the stuff you have to do this summer with your new place ... let alone keep up with the demand of those hummingbirds for their nectar. I will be back full time before the last hummingbird heads south again. Then we have the entire winter to play once more!
Great plan, we'd hate to lose you for the whole summer.
Your question, I dont know really, technologically no doubt future generations will be better off, but does that translate to overall quality of the human races existence, probably not... I can answer this, I just get angry and start rambling about modern medicine and how humans arent meant to live this long, its really not something anybody want to hear.
Your closing-lines said it all---even though we live longer, have we REALLY "lived the good life", and left that life fulfilled? My opinions on such would take up far more room in this comment section than they would deserve. But still, a damned good question---guess I'll have to DIE to give you an honest answer!
I'll try to remember to leave a forwarding address...!
P.S. How come "lets" has no apostrophe? LOL
Better some than none. Thanks And I will love the longer posts by the way. Margie
Meant to say 'can't answer this' in my other comment. Dam keyboard.
you just love us, that is the bottom line, you love us and you don't want to lose us, even though sometimes our comments are kind of dumb....i posted about blogger love over on my blog and you are all family as ask dr. jim says...so you won't lose me as a commentor, or tormentor
Oh, go ahead and blame the keyboard, Alex. Buck and I have decided that you can read over what you wrote a hundred times but you won't find all the errors until AFTER you hit 'publish'. It's a universal law of some sort.
It's okay, we probably all have some philosophies that are best discussed on long solo drives ... or only out loud in NYC subway cars.
Bruno, don't you DARE die just to answer that one because I am just ornery enough to track you down to your new doorstep and kick your butt for doing so. But I WILL bring an ice-cold twelve pack and a fan.
Towanda! Oh don't you start, girl, or you might see a semi-colon-oscopy, too! And you know far too well that's not a pretty sight!
Okay, fine, putz ... I 'fess up. Yep, it would get too darned lonely around here without you guys dropping in and having your say and way with me. And you know, now that I don't feel obliged to show up any time but on Fridays, I just might do so when the dogs start ignoring my conversations. They are truly lousy commenters anyway ... well, other than the odd well-placed fart from Brou.
Margie - I almost missed you there hidden under 'anon'! That's it, Towanda and I will have to brow-beat you into signing up with Blogger. From what I've noticed, some folks sign up just so that they can comment with an identifiable ID and logo but don't keep a blog themselves. Whaddya say ... how about giving it a try?
And ... you are the first person I have ever met who would say that longer posts might even be preferable. It might not be such a good thing to encourage my natural verbosity, you know.
Good Idea...hang in there at once a week in nice weather....better than leaving the "house" althougher.
I like the old style photo...B/W and Sepia, and just by luck I write about them in my blog today.
{shameless plug alert}
Pat, you know, it's already taken a lot of strain off me to only officially scramble once a week for the summer. It really was starting to abrade my semi-retirement joys in uncomfortable ways. This feels MUCH better now!
Red here. We can understand going to once/week. With all the stress of planning the move to 'up top', you guys don't too much on you plate!
I would guess that you're already missing the little bull, except the 'stepping on your toe. Later, Red
I recently read an article on contentment. Here are a few of the points:
To find contentment, we must maintain a realistic view of our own limitations and those of others.
Learn to be patient and to rejoice at the smallest sign of progress.
Don’t compare your accomplishments with another’s. A saying in the African Gun language expresses this fact simply: “The fingers are not all of the same length.”
Plan what you realistically can do, and then follow through. If the goal is reasonable and you reach it, you will “have cause for exultation.” You will experience contentment.
If you meditate on your personal relationship with God and appreciate how he blesses you, you will be content.
We need to understand and accept God’s view of the matter.
“Having sustenance and covering, we shall be content with these things,” states another Bible principle.
You are talented and have accomplished many things.
Judy
Red, curiously enough, it is the 'hurry up and wait' angle imposed by outside parties with its possibility of no Rat Town move in the foreseeable future that is really getting me down. I'd rather have too much stimulation on the plate at any given time than too little. I am getting quite restless and that is so unsettlingly distracting and detrimental at the moment.
Thanks, Judy, that was a good bit of needed salve there.
I suppose some must find the balance between being the sparrow of the field and another admonition to not waste one's talents. I have sat here quietly and unproductive for almost three years and now the urge to recommence using my former creative talents is calling in an ever rising voice. It has become a severe trial to continue to ignore it as the volume increases.
Lsten to your inner voice. That is the YOU. I can try once a week, not necessarily a Friday. Good idea you have.
Moose, given your local building boom, you might be better off going twice a month. Just let 'em know that you're going the welfare paycheck route ... the first and the fifteenth. I bet you will breath a sigh of relief, too, in getting that issue settled for the summer.
I'll be here. I enjoy your adventures even if I often leave no trail (comment-wise, anyway) that I was here. I like rugged self-responsible types so your stories are fascinating to me. The photographs are great too.
Thanks, Atavist. With your Panama paradise project taking off, I figure you could use a little less reading load this summer as well.
Yeah I'd agree with that, now matter how many times you re-read you'll always miss something. Usually something that makes an ass out of your self to.
I LOVE the barn photo.
I agree about questioning how we stack up against our forbears. We certainly aren't BETTER, as people, I believe, and longer or easier lives doesn't necessarily indicate better quality of life.
I think we have a debt to the land and to the earth which sustain us which are too easily forgotten in our mad modern rush. For that same reason, I really HATE flying places on trips - flying over seems like cheating the land, if that doesn't sound too corny. I think a road trip is much better and a more ponderous way to get from point a to point b.
And then in those pensive moments on the road, looking out at mesas, fields and marshes and watching clouds, I always think of the pioneers who took days to traverse the same distance
we cover effortlessly in an hour. Yes, to take the time to see the land and appreciate it is a very small thing to give, and a wonderful way to assess one's life and one's passage through the world.
Oh, Lin, I found this while surfing and knew there'd be a use for it. Here is a present for you: '
When reading our family's history, I realized I have derived from pioneer stock. Europeans, they settled in what was then the wild west (Wisconsin) and learned to live with impossible winters and wet, hot summers. It was not easy to wagon load from New York to the Indian rich, bare land and suttler stores of the day. But they helped build Chicago and Milwaukee and Saint Paul. And many small places in between. I have nothing but admiration and pride in my forebears. (Even those we try not to mention in our family history books.)
Have a sense of self esteem and general preening of your feathers in the grit and fortitude of your preceeders. They were great people. Just as you and yours are great people.
Salute.
People like you and the other posters here are the hope of America. Without this caliber of beings there is little point in mankind surviving.
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