Rotary Minutarian
DG Nick Hall
AND HOW OLD ARE YOU?
Some of my earliest memories are of adults in my life admonishing me to act my age! Since I never received an updated Life 101 User’s Manual as I arrived at each annual celebration of my birth, I was never sure what they meant. Their tone suggested displeasure with my behavior, but I was never really sure what the script called for as I advanced from one age bracket to the next. I still don’t know.
That’s why I decided to start over when I hit the mid-century mark and, hopefully, figure it out this time around. The occasion of my 50th birthday found me immersed in serious reflection upon how I had spent my first five decades, and how best to spend whatever allocation of time remained. That’s also when I ran across an interesting statistic reporting that in 1848, the average life expectancy of a male was around 50.
Actually, there’s a wide range of highly misleading numbers because most statisticians fail to account for the high infant-mortality rate during the 19th century. If you include only people who made it to their tenth birthday, they were likely to
live as long as we do today. But I’m going to ignore that important little detail and include
everyone. Consequently, had I been born in 1848 instead of 1948, my friends most likely would
have been marking the occasion of my departure from planet earth instead of celebrating the 50th anniversary of my arrival. I decided I’d had a full and good life at the 50th mark, and whatever time remained would count as bonus years!
That makes me 20 instead of 70 and it’s why in 2015 I celebrated my 17th bonus year by doing what I did when I was 17 the first time around; I completed a cross country bicycle ride using the same model vintage ten speed bike I had used in 1965. Alas, I still heard the same question with the same hint of criticism. When, along the way in 1965 I was asked my age by kindly strangers, they pondered my answer and with a tone of disapproval said, “And your mother lets you do this?” Now, with the same hint of disapproval, the response is, “And your wife lets you do this?”
Some things just don’t change no matter how old you think you are, so you might as well follow my lead and act the age that offers the most pleasure. Just remember, if you’re a man, you may still need permission.
