A Resilient Life - Part "Last"
OK, this has gone on long enough - I will choose to combine the final list of questions and end this saga of "oh, my, why must I deal with life in such a manner as this" confrontations.......
Hey, it's the real deal - I can't help it if the truth hurts, but it really does sometimes, doesn't it?
Oh well - here are the final list of questions, and since I don't know of ANY 60-80-somethings who read my blog - just humor yourself with these - maybe they will bring some insight to our future - maybe not - regardless, here they are, and if God is gracious enough to allow us these years, here are the questions we might be asking:
(BTW - I just happen to think they are incredibly powerful questions!)
60-somethings
1. When do I stop doing the things that have always defined me?
2. Why do I feel ignored by a large part of the younger population?
3. Why am I curious about who is listed in the obituary column of the newspapers, how they died, and what kinds of lives they lived?
4. Do I have enough time to do all the things I've dreamed about in the past?
5. Who will be around me when I die?
6. Which one of us will go first, and what is it like to say good-bye to someone with whom you have shared so many years of life?
7. Are the things I believe in capable of taking me to the end?
8. Is there really life after death?
9. What do I regret?
10. What are the chief satisfactions of these many years of living?
11. What have I done that will outlive me?
70/80-somethings
1. Does anyone realize of even care who I once was?
2. Is my story important to anyone?
3. How much of my life can I still control?
4. Is there anything I can still contribute?
5. Why this anger and irritability?
6. Is God really there for me?
7. Am I ready to face death?
8. And when I die (how will it happen), will I be missed, or will the news of my death bring relief?
8. Heaven? What is it like?
posted by DW at 9:56 PM
2 Comments:
As a regular Worley reader, let this representative of the 60's generation speak to the questions read here. One does wonder what people will say when we die, but moreso what track record have we left behind? What heritage will our children and grandchildren point to during the brief time we are together? Question 6 is particularly poignant when you realize that you've shared your life with, depended upon, loved, and been loved by, the most important earthly person in your world. Regardless of the length of time you've been together, there is still a mutual dependency that evaporates in one single moment that can never be restored. That, in itself, makes you want to value every second of life and insure that your most-loved-one feels that value.
12:19 PM
I'm going to ignore your 50's questions for now (too real!), but I'm going to write down your 70/80's questions and carry them with me on every trip to NC. I can see my parents thru an entirely different filter after reading these. They would never say these things to me, but I know by our conversations that these are precisely the questions they grapple with daily. So thanks for helping me see what their days are like. My responses to them in word and in action will be different because of it!
11:06 AM
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