The body grows old, but not the spirit

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” – George Bernard Shaw

It is unfortunate, but true, that the vast majority of folks have forgotten how to play. We have become so focused upon creating a life that we have accelerated the process of dying. The second we are born, our bodies start aging and the process of growing old begins.

Neither the most advanced science nor the latest technology can stop our bodies from aging, but as Chili Davis said, “Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.” Do we really want to grow up?

Recently a friend turned me on to the TV program “Criminal Minds.” The show has been running for several years, but I have been so busy playing I haven’t had the time or the inclination to camp out in front of a television. Being the adventurous type and not wanting to offend my friend, I started recording the show so I could check it out when I had absolutely nothing better to do.

If you are not familiar with the show, here is how it goes. A group of FBI folks run all over the country assisting local law enforcement doing what they call behavioral analysis, studying the behavioral pattern of the “Un Sub.” I am just a tad slow, so it took me about six episodes to realize that “Un Sub” was a synonym for “unknown subject.”

The FBI has behavioral analysis down pat. In about 30 minutes (if you subtract the 30 minutes of commercials from the one-hour program), they can catch an Un Sub that the locals have been trying to capture for years. The key to behavioral analysis is predictability. The more predictable our behavioral pattern is, the more likely we can be profiled and identified.

Why is it that when we are younger, we are unpredictable, but as we grow older, our lifestyle pattern becomes so consistent that anyone can identify us? When was the last time you stepped “outside the box,” deviated from your consistent, predictable, mundane pattern? When was the last time you ate an ice cream cone from the bottom up? Shaved with the opposite hand? Had a squirt gun battle with your friends or kids?

Been a while, hasn’t it? Would there be any purpose in doing those things? What would people think if you behaved in such a silly and immature manner? Do you really care what they think? I don’t! Reputation is what others think of us. Character is what we really are. If we are more concerned with our reputation than we are in exercising our true character, then we have been relegated to the bench of life, sitting while others play the game.

Don’t ever stop playing. If you do, the fellows with the shovels are gonna catch up with you. Run through life like it is a race, head high and to the wind. Step outside the box. Dare to be who you are and not what others want you to be.

Helen Keller said, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.”

Dare to be who you are, be unpredictable and keep on playing, and you will never grow old. You make look a little silly, but what the heck, you won’t be old!

Now about those FBI folks. One of them might have an IQ of 187, but he ain’t smart enough to figure out what I’m going to do next.

My wife is not smart enough to figure out what I am going to do next, and she is the smartest person I know. After all, she did marry me. That’s pretty dang smart!