Col#278- 4/1/26
Richard Davis
You never know where or when you might have a life-altering experience. Accidents and circumstances beyond your control may push you in certain directions. Then there are the more subtle events that seem to have an impact that lingers and force you to reassess your life.
I was on a tour of an animal refuge center in Costa Rica. There were 12 people in our guide-lead group. The age range of the group was from toddlers to my wife and me. We were clearly the oldest people in the group, but that fact did not seem significant.
Despite often walking with a limp and having a few physical problems, my mind always makes me feel young and able to accommodate to just about any setting. Most people tell me I look younger than my age. Politeness can often cloud reality.
Our group was gathered around an exhibit as the guide talked. A few people were sitting on a bench, but I felt comfortable standing. Then three different people offered me their seats. They were all giving me the look that told me they wanted to be nice to the old man in the group.
I wanted to shout back to all of them. “I am not an old man who needs you to give me a seat.” Instead, I politely refused the seats that were offered and stood among the younger people.
At first, I did not think much of this incident, but as the day wore on I realized that I may be embracing an image of myself that is not shared by the rest of the world.
It would be easy to tell myself that it doesn’t matter what other people see. That is my usual attitude toward the world.
But I began to realize that I should think about how this incident made me feel and figure out if I was going to let it change how see myself.
There have been other similar incidents over the past few years, but when they happened, I easily blew them off as ignorant patronizing. During my last years of rollerblading a few young people yelled to me as I went by, “Way to go”, but what they were really meaning to say is “Not bad for an old man.”
Now that I am 76 years old I interpret those comments differently than I did in my 60’s. I feel compelled to give more thought to how people see me. They see me as an older man. I will try to keep that in the back of mind so that I can maintain a balanced perspective on the world.
I will not let that reality force me to behave any differently than the mentally spry and active person that I am. There are times when I feel the vigor and excitement of a 12 year-old. I embrace those moments and will continue to do so no matter what I may look like to other people.
Wisdom allows you to keep the world in perspective and it makes travel on the unknown roads ahead exciting. My life has been changed from that trip to the animal rescue center in ways that help me move through a continuing personal evolution.
As they say in Costa Rica, Pura Vida. It is a positive statement about embracing the good life.
