“JOY GERM”: If I was to be hit by lightning and killed when I was, say, 60 I would have learned what I came here to learn. The “me” I came to create would have been created, job finished. What would another 25 years have to contribute? The last lonely decade would probably be spent in a rest home or bed or hospital. What joy! Or even a dementia ward watching someone wipe my bottom and than change my nappy.
DES: This mindset is probably held by a lot of thoughtful people. The following answer was given to me in response to different questions. Life is lived a second at a time, comprising every emotion and thought and action and reaction. In my case it all comes together as an individual I call Des. That’s what I am in ABC simple terms.
The final 25 years of a person’s physical life contain a lot of seconds, each fitting into an intricate and unique pattern. (Unique in the history of the universe.) The final decades draw on the wisdom and experiences of a lifetime, and so frequently make available a level of understanding not accessible to the younger person. Qualities of patience, humility and empathy are unfolded, because the elderly person’s environment is made of such stuff.
Every single thought and emotion is as precious as a diamond as big as a mug. Collectively, that is what the human species is made of. The designs of Mother Nature are perfect, even if our understanding of them is much less.
