A word to the 'over-the-hill' gang
By Michael Greene -- Furniture Today, December 2, 2001
One of the great joys of my life has been the good fortune to rub shoulders with the younger segments of our population. It's a real wow-e-e! that has been granted me by the Almighty, for which I am continually grateful.
As noted in my just-published book, "Tzedakah and the Precious Pushke with CD Sounds of Sharing and Caring," I never believed in the generation gap and never really grew up ... although I do love hot oatmeal.
I graduated from Hofstra University in 1968 at age 47, although one "student winnah" in my class decided that anyone over 30 was useless and expendable. At 68, I received a tiny Yamaha keyboard as a gift from our kids and discovered that there were musical notes rattling around in my hollow head. So I started recording them (with my Bubbila singing and with the help of a young troupe of musicians and vocalists) and then wrote a preschool book to accompany them. And now I'm hoping to put it out in a Spanish edition.
Seven years later, at 75, I put together "Gee! I Wish I Had a Bedroom That Was All My Own," a book on interior environment for middle schoolers that is being referred to for spatial relationships and home furnishings techniques in libraries and classrooms. All the books are hardcover, four-color, stitched and library quality. Wow-e-e!
Why am I telling you all this? Because every other day, I hear about the "over-the-hill life crises" that so many of my young friends are going through … at 35! I tell them (and now you) that it ain't necessarily so! No way! No how!
Tough days? Absolutely. Loads of competition at every twist and turn? You bet. A bunch of hi-falutin' dot-coms down the drain? Yep. A pile of college degrees on hand with great titles but useless whoop-dee-doo credits? No doubt. B-u-t no one is over the hill at 35. No one.
My friends, the magic age, which I've talked about before, is still 50. Five-zero. And how do you figure that, Ol' Swami?
Simple. For the first 25 years you're trying to learn readin', writin' and 'rithmetic. You receive the scroll of paper but you're still wet behind the ears. Come the next 25 years, you try to use what you've learned. You try to see if you can live with it. You try to find a partner you can love and join with, plus some adorable young 'uns to "administer," to love and to say "No!" to so they'll love you in return.
50 years old? That rates you two wow-e-e-s! One because you've reached it and the other because you can look back to see where you've been and where you'd like to go. Over the hill at 35? Humbug!
Thanks, again, for listening.
-
A few words on caring, and the real bottom line
Dec 22, 2002 -
Former FT columnist's book inspires musical
Jan 13, 2005
Featured Company
-
Wright Labels
Bill and Tom Wright founded Wright of Thomasville in 1961 on the idea that printing was a creative medium and the belief that "a promise made is a promise kept." The Wright brothers focused their attention on providing exceptional printing for the... more
VIEW ALL GALLERIES
