Two calendar events are thematically responsible for the present revelation of our recent perseverations. One is the soon-to-arrive advent of Spring, defined astronomically as the time of the calendar year when the Sun aligns with Earth’s Equator, and, of equal impact, the season plinyblog’s annual Spring poem is published.
Added to the recitation of such notably relevant declarations is the empirical fact that we are on the cusp of our ninth decade, and have, for better or worse, acquired some nuanced personal insight into life’s eternal progressive mutation from the zenith of physicality and sapience to the challenges of old age. We, admittedly, have looked to our personal life as instructive, and in certain cases, a singular experience.
It requires no more than common experience to note the fact that one’s physical prowess and bodily efficiency gradually decline with the passing of the years. In too many cases, cognitive proficiency is an additional costly concomitant of aging. The decline in mobility and physical capability is life-changing, not only for the aging individual but for those in his life whose assistance is called upon. We, like others, succumbed to feelings of loss of esteem and agency by reason of such disablement, but gradually succeeded in the practical need for adjustment; the most rational and supportive amelioration was the fortuitous continuation of life, the absence of significant ill health, and most notably, the fortuitous continuation of our rational propensities. There are no words in the lexicon adequate or sufficient to express our joy at such remarkable natural providence.
To the extent that it may be of some utility and interest, we have, from time to time, related our thoughts and experience to the subjects of the acquisition of mature perception, rational understanding of the self, and the world, and the suggested route to “fulfillment” by a lifetime of engagement in reading and the arts and the advancement of personal education. For those senior citizens, similarly blessed by nature with healthy cognition, this is the ultimate route to a meaningful existence and the fulfillment of life.
In the final analysis, Man’s self-awareness, cognition, and ubiquitous understanding constitute his vital self-awareness and tangible life experience. We have accepted, with resignation, our decline in physical abilities, but have come, more than ever, to cherish our cognitive capabilities and mature judgment; matters, ultimately more existential, as it turns out, than ubiquitously functional mobility.
=p.
plinyblogdotcom 