That’s what my father used to say when he was in his eighties. And now I am at least THINKING it.
Yes, it is true. It sometimes takes a lifetime to really understand some issues...or someone. Perhaps it is because when one gets older, one might have more time to ponder. Maybe life is not so frantic, or is it that we have learned at last to ‘walk in the other fellow’s shoes’...as my father also used to advise.
This might not apply to everyone. I am only speaking personally. And I have had a lot of solitude, more than most, in which to think and reason. Am I fortunate to have had this solitude? It has not exactly been loneliness, although that has been present at times. I have found that I cannot write well, from the heart, unless I am feeling lonely. My best poetry has been penned during periods of devastation over something or other.
When I was seventy-one, I attended university on campus and obtained two degrees, my B.A and B.A Hons. I was often told (off campus) that I was too old, that it was too late, that I would never use my latter day education. But I did.
I have written several books since, and have been in demand for guest speaking and other appearances as a result. But not because of my two degrees. Oh no! It’s because of the difference the knowledge gained made to my inner self. Not just to my self-confidence, which certainly needed a boost, but to my ability to understand and consider. To reason. To put myself in the other fellow’s shoes.