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March
Words of Wisdom (Or: Those famous last words)
As well seasoned seniors we’ve said it all and
heard it all before, you know how it goes,
“I’ll never drink again,” or
“When I was a boy,” or the dream, “I
coulda, shoulda, woulda,” or some of those
well-known last words, “What does this button
do?”, “If I only knew”, or
“Nice doggie!”, and the most famous
non-word -- "Oops." Words are the gatekeepers to
the brain and the keys that unlock inspiration and
stupidity. “It’s a dud! It's a dud! It's
a du...”.
Then there are those little words of wisdom or
warning, usually on small signs behind bars
throughout the land that are made by the famous
common persons who have experienced all of life.
“Men are like coolers, load them with beer and
you can take them anywhere.” Or, “Beer
has been helping ugly people have sex since
1862.” Or, “If you drink to forget, pay
in advance.”
“Wisdom is what's left after we've run out
of personal opinions,” said Bertrand Russell.
Now, Bertrand may have meant the normal human
animal, but he couldn’t have meant seniors who
never run out of judgments and attitudes.
“Trust me.”
So many people through the ages have been on top
of this wisdom problem. “The older I grow the
more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age
brings wisdom,” said the famous linguist H. L.
Mencken, probably just before he was lost under a
pile of un-fan mail. We know better. Mahatma Gandhi
put it a different way. “We don't receive
wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a
journey that no one can take for us or spare
us.”
Step by step all seniors discover all the
positives and negatives of an eventful life, that
journey we take. The positives we enjoy and put in
our memory banks with a smile attached and a warm
feeling. The negatives are placed in that same
memory bank with a snarl and a flashing red warning
light attached. That warning light is attached to
words of wisdom that remind us to remind others
that that is a no-no.
Sometimes those words of wisdom, or more
commonly known as ‘famous last words’,
are left to the last day, and should be heeded as
well as considered by the source and the time.
“I should never have switched from Scotch to
Martinis,” said Humphrey Bogart the actor, who
didn’t leave us with much new wisdom but never
lost his character. “Go on, get out - last
words are for fools who haven't said enough,”
said Karl Marx, still in character. And,
“Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said
something,” Pancho Villa, Mexican
revolutionary.
Then some seniors just give up and say
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH”, or stop,
wander around in a circle and say, “I never
get lost.”
©2010, Patrick
Kennedy
* * *
Man arrives as a novice at each age of his life.
- Nicolas Chamfort
Patrick
M. Kennedy (P Manvel Kennedy) has been a
professional writer, editor, and graphic artist for
over 30 years. He is the author of How
to Have Fun with
Retirement. He currently
works from Boise, Idaho. In the past he has worked
from Seattle, Indianapolis, and Las Vegas. He keeps
busy because he knows it is important when writing
or editing any material with a particular objective
in mind, for either personal use or business goals,
to present ideas with quality, clarity and
accuracy. He can do that, and he does most of it
himself, but he occasionally must call upon
qualified associates for assistance.
"My Resume shows me as an
experienced professional writer and editor who
specializes in the English language. With years of
professional experience in the
writing/editing/graphics field, I offer quality
services to both individual and business clients,
with prompt and accurate solutions designed to meet
their needs, and online editing services and
writing services for easy and quick results.
www.abetterword.com
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