Tip on the tightrope

Dexter - the wonder dog

In my mind's eye, I see him bounding through the newly fallen snow.  Twirling and spinning in the air like Patrick Chan, but without years of practice and millions in support -- one graceful leap in a perfect arc after another.  My mother and I look on in awe.

He's Dexter, an australian sheperd and poodle mix. We adopted Dexter from another family when he was 18 months old and sometime later realized that he was likely the victim of unscrupulous breeders.  But at that special moment, all we could do was wonder at an animal in his heyday and marvel at his joy in being alive.

What is it to be alive?  There's a Blackfoot proverb that is very poetic, "It is the flash of a firefly in the night.  It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.  It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset."  Life is walking the knife edge between the inertia of rock and the chaos of air.  In our minds, it can be a small happy place bounded by stultifying routine on one side and madness on the other.

Dexter on that winter day was at his prime, using his doggy skills to their maximum and enjoying every moment.  For humans, it's often the same.  We feel most alive when we push our boundaries, challenge ourselves, and gain new mental and physical skills. Citius, Altius, Fortius -- Faster, Higher, Stronger is the motto of the modern Olympic movement for a reason.

It's been exactly a year since I started writing this blog.  I have written close to 40 posts and have had over 15,000 page views.  I'm not a writer and am astounded that you continue to read.  Thank you.  This year, I participated in a beginner's triathlon and will soon begin a major academic challenge ... and I will be 60 years old in two months. Despite a health problem some years back, I feel much the way I did twenty years ago, mentally and physically.  In some ways, better!

All this to say that there is a trick to life.  New challenges keep body and mind young. Of course there will always be setbacks but try not to let them define you. Bounce back and embrace something new.  Live in the moment.

When I was 12, I tried to imagine myself in the year 2000.  I can still hear my child-self talking with a girlfriend and neither of us could envision living so long.  Now that I'm almost 60, I can't imagine not living.

Over the next 13 weeks, I will be studying under Marshall Ganz, the former organizer for the 2008 Presidential campaign of Barack Obama and the civil rights movement.  I applied to Professor Ganz's program in December and never dreamt I would be accepted. My studies will preoccupy me particularly since I haven't done much serious academic work in some time.  As generations of young men have said, I'll write.  Like them, I may not write often.

For those of you dreading that milestone birthday, let me assure you that sixty feels pretty good. You can re-invent yourself in life.  I'm comfortable in my skin, more at ease, smarter, in better shape, and happier than when I was forty.  Oh, and what I love most is the irreverence of my humour has become sharper.

Janelle Monáe in Tightrope

The ancient Greeks must have had the likes of Janelle Monáe in mind. Every goddess should be accompanied by such fine disciples. Listen to the lyrics of Tightrope. Sixty can be the new forty with conscious effort.  It's all about facing your fears and in Monáe's words, learning to "tip on the tightrope."

The views expressed in this post are personal opinions only.