The Business of Life

As I approach six score and ten, I often stumble upon some words that give me pause to reflect and do a little introspection.

I was particularly struck by this sentence by the columnist Roger Cohen--"In middle age the business of life is less about doing things for the first than for the last time."

In mulling this thought over, I thought how true. I've done so many things the first time and many of the things I do now will be for the last time. Getting on in age brings the harsh reality of a terminable state of being.

The question is how is one going to spend the few remaining years of one's life? Are there sights, scenes, views, noises, smells and feelings that one needs to be done for the first time or revisited? Is is time that one takes inventory of their experiences and makes a decision that they have had enough or that they need more?

Each person is different and while some might like to quietly exit the world sitting closed up in a hermetically sealed house with the TV for stimulation, others would want to acquire more stimulating experiences or revisiting their prior experiences.

I'm pretty much in the latter persuasion. I still want to eke out more stimulating experiences. Can't help it. Just born that way. I simply feel that a person should live life commensurate with what his or her money allows them to do and to
accumulate as many of life's experiences as they can. The fact of the matter is, you have but one opportunity to live.

However, I can sit contentedly in a park bench or outdoor cafe in a Latin American capital city where time does not always demand to be put to use. People watching is a nonproductive calling and I'm damn good at that. I have never tired of
watching faces, bodies and gaits of people especially ladies. I can think of no better way of passing the afternoon without a serious thought in my head and just watching the world go by. It's mesmerizing.

It's difficult to do in the US unless you live in a few big cities. I cannot do this here in Fort Myers, but would have to travel to South Beach in Miami which we do from time to time. But, I especially like it in Latin America because of the ease
of socializing with strangers.

Anyway, just some thoughts that were caused by that sentence. Yes, at this stage of the game the "business of life is less about doing things for the first time than for the last time."

Bob