"I do not think of old age as an ever grimmer time that
one must somehow endure and make the best of, but as a time of leisure and
freedom, freed from the factitious urgencies of earlier days, free to explore
whatever I wish, and to bind the thoughts and feelings of a lifetime together."
Dr. Oliver Wolf Sacks (1933-2015)
I continue to feel the energy of this quote from Sacks'
piece, "The Joy of Old Age," in the New York Times on July 6, 2013,
read it here
Sacks was about 80 when he wrote
that, and of course was aware that his life was almost over, and he didn’t
shrink from acknowledging the physical and health realities that alter life as
we get older.
I am drawn to his outlook because
it elevates one’s willingness to make a life, even make a new life, at whatever
age.
Sacks offers one recipe for giving
full voice to “the thoughts and feelings of a lifetime.”
I think Walt Whitman heard the same
drummer:
“I celebrate myself, and sing
myself . . .”
A propos, I
wrote this haiku reflection:
….yes, yes, I
will make
a new life….and live two lives
as my old life fades.
Copyright ©
Richard Carl Subber 2015 All rights reserved.
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