DIFFERENT PATHS
We should all be thankful for the changes we experience in life.
No punishment can be worse, in my mind, than solitary confinement where one must be with himself alone at all times with no changes whatsoever. What punishment could possibly be worse?
Make it a point to vary the phases of your life when you can do so and it will prove to be one of the most rewarding things you can do.
It is so very easy for us to get into a rut and live the same old routines day after day, until nothing is challenging to us; nothing is fresh or growing and it is all something we have long since lost interest in maintaining.
Not only will you see your own pathway in a different and brighter place, but those around you will be led by your example and the entire way of life will improve for everyone with whom you come in contact - both new and old friends and associates. And, you will make new friendships,as well.
Just about every day I hear someone complaining about the fact that the world is changing constantly and doing so too fast for any one to keep up with all the new trends. That's quite true. And, if we don't make some effort to ride along with a few of those changes we will, most certainly, be left far, far behind!
People, as well as machines, become obsolete if not used and improved along the way. A computer, for instance, now in use as a pretty much up-to-date unit, will be obsolete within three years. I have added more memory to this one recently in a rather futile attempt to keep up but it will be gone before I know it. It cannot take any more hard disk space,either, which fits it for the discard bins at any time now. The analogy is plain. We need to renovate and exercise our minds regularly or prepare to be set aside by society.
Why be a social drop-out? There is far too much at stake for any of us to let old age creep up on us without preparing for the downside days so that old age is a blessing and not a cross to be borne.
I get disturbed when I hear any person say they: "have nothing to do." That cannot be possible if they are alive at all and willing to share their lives with others! They can do that by being truly interested in what other people are doing, saying and reading. My trouble is that the hours of the day are never long enough for me to get all things done I want to do! And - I get equally upset when I hear myself or others express that rather smug view, as well.It has un unpleasant bragging overtone in it.That doesn't set me apart from others but it does allow me to realize at the end of each day that I have accomplished far more than if I had simply sat all day and stared at a television screen in thoughtless abandon.
Your path in life is varied.I think it is supposed to be that way. Learn to value every turn, stumble or tangent along the way.
A.L.M. June 18 2003 [c508wds]
