Finding Strength In Solitude

"When nothing seems to help I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it but all that had gone before."
 I watched as the man shuffled down the aisle carrying a weight around his waist which professed anxiety to me. He appeared to be quite old until I glimpsed his face and discovered he was maybe at the end of middle-age. He certainly had many more good years to offer but not to his thinking. It seemed apparent he had lost the fight, given up and resolved to sit back and watch others live while he wasted. I had seen him many times before and spoke briefly a few of those moments. In another time he was vibrant, astute and humorous. I felt said watching him. What happened I asked myself. Why the change I reflected. I recalled a few reasons and problems he endured and was saddened at how the flow of life beats us down if it can. Sometimes  the harder we attempt to fight back, the stronger we are forced to the ground and eventually crushed. Wait a minute I thought. Not everyone stays down. Some get back up on their feet not necessarily swinging but definitely smiling. No doubt
it is difficult to keep hope alive in our hearts when life thrashes us at every corner. Many people believe that as soon as they  progress a tiny bit forward one minute, they are pounced on the next minute.  Maybe we should get up and stand taller firmer stronger. When an opponent sees weakness they strike. The only difference between two equally capable athletes is the motivation and belief in themselves that they can do it. Surrendering is accepting defeat and the game is over. As long as one continues to try hope is never dead and the possibilities are always achievable. 
The trick to continuing regardless of outcome is keeping your goal in mind. As long as you have purposes in your life, you have reasons to strive to overcome obstacles. It is like visualizing what you want to see happen. Sometimes we may strive to achieve a goal that makes another person happy. Whatever the reason, when we find a purpose we work and try harder to attain our objective. 
It seems that setting objectives and tasks we must try to complete can help us conquer our objectives and at the same time defeat our loneliness. When we come to the aid of another person we are saving ourselves in the process. It empowers us with worth. We begin to realize we never really became unimportant or inconsequential to life. We simply sat down on the bench and ignored the calls from those on the battlefield of life. When we decided to stand up again to answer a call, we jump-started our drive and made a difference in the life of another. Even the smile we gave to others on any given day, reached out and said, you are someone and you count. 
"Life offers no guarantees... just choices; no certainty... but consequences; no predictable outcomes... just the privilege of pursuit."    Tim Conner

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The Secret Of Aging.

'It's one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself." Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars."Khalil Gibran

Unless we die first, we are going to age. The choice then is death or aging. We don't really have a choice. We acquire what happens first. My grandmother always said,"Sure Pam old age is not for the weak or faint hearted." She was right on the mark with those words. One thing about getting older is the contempt youth has for the aged. It is almost as if the aging person lost their mind. How perplexing in a cultured society, to hold old age with such disdain. We practically hide our elderly away. The older people get, the less interactions they have with others. They are perceivable slower in their actions words and thoughts. In our quick society nothing could be worse. The elderly are less valued for their opinions or thoughts. They become the recipient of the jokes and snide remarks. How much lost wisdom and untapped information we disregard. Young workers are valued and rightly should they be. They  are privy to the most up to date knowledge available. Their opinions are appreciated and they are asked to be the presenters of information on many occasions. On the opposite end we have the aging worker who is bypassed for the promotion simply because he is older. That  gray hair and steadier walk give rise to the notion that he is a slacker, slower, not as quick witted and less of a thinker. It's probable he has already thought some things out long ago and arrived at the conclusions his younger colleagues haven't yet thought about. He is composed because he knows that 'Haste Makes Waste' as the saying goes. The older worker is actually more patient because he knows what it is like to have a bad day or have a  bad pain in his leg. He is more tolerant because he has needed others to wait for him to find what he misplaced. He is not as aggressive because he knows in the end that team work is more important than sole honors for a moment of glory. He is more forgiving because throughout his longer life there were times he was in a position to need forgiveness. He has been there done that and is now passing it forward. The older worker is less proud because he is more aware of the numerous people who have out done his best efforts. He is also aware of the number of people along the way who helped him get where he is. He is also less arrogant because he is now more aware of the feelings of  those he has bested.  The younger worker might have tunnel vision whereas the older worker has the whole picture. It doesn't make us better or worse. It simply tells us we should value all people. If we disregard our older population as less of a contributer to society, we sell society and ourselves short. We are an interwoven quilt that is worn on the inside and stronger on the outside. The quilt would not be useful without the inner and outer pieces. The older generation holds us together at the heart while the younger generation moves us forward. We need both. If we had more regard and respect for the older generation we might have less need for nursing homes. As younger people we might learn the value of kindness, tolerance, patience, understanding, respect empathy and forgiveness long before we reach old age.
"Success is not measured by what a person accomplishes, but by the opposition they have encountered, and the courage with which they have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds." Orison Sweet Marden
"God will not look you over for medals degrees or diplomas but for scars."  Elbert Hubbard

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