I would like to start this post with a thank you to Pete Seeger. I don't know that his influence on America and the world can be so easily felt now as it had in earlier years, but I shudder to contemplate a world that didn't have a Pete Seeger in it.
I'll be 45 this year, a good 15 years more than I expected out of life, and, the body often feels much older. The knees and back don't like it when I ask them to work anymore - as if any of us have the choice. And, then I come to the troubling realization that I am looking forward to old age so that I can stop working.
I've struggled a bit this year. I've mentioned before that I am staying level on my finances, not going in to debt but surely not climbing the financial ladder. Realistically, all I want to do is be constructive and work at a job that pays my needs and gives me enough extra that I could afford to do those things called living rather than just work. Don't get me wrong, I am thankful for the jobs I do have, I'd just like to not live with the threat of poverty.
And, so perhaps as I listen to this old man who has been everywhere and done so very much sing at the end of his life to stay forever young, that I am just a bit more encouraged. This world seems to be geared towards making old men of us, those lucky enough to make it so far. The young man charges the windmills of injustice, prejudice, poverty and hopelessness. The old man is caught in fear of bills and consequences of failure to meet those obligations. And, lately, it seems that is all I can think about - but somewhere past those grey hairs perhaps yet resides a bit of the young man who worries not about caring for his elderly parents, his mortgage, his heat and his taxes that just seem to keep going up for no apparent reason. Maybe.
May you be forever young. Thank you, Pete.
