A New Me And You Too

Tennyson said “this gray spirit yearning in desire to follow knowledge like a sinking star.” Sometimes, I think I am a gray spirit, though the gray hairs are colored blonde and I do have the desire to follow knowledge all the time and I am not a sinking star yet. It is never too late to learn and I am taking a college course in February online given by The University of Pennsylvania. Wow, U of Pa, a great college and I am taking a course from them at age seventy-nine.

Double wow, and it is free and I have to put in five hours a week listening, watching, and studying a bit and maybe a test or two. I know I can do it and I will be honored to get a certificate when I complete the course. It is a poetry course on how to understand Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman. They do not write my kind of rhyming poetry. They write the kinds of poetry, that these old time poets wrote and it usually has to be deciphered by students in college courses.

I have a book of Emily’s and I quote some of them in my articles and sometimes I have to reread them to understand them and then I am satisfied. Maybe this online course will make them clearer. I write poetry with a story behind the lines and I make (sometimes it is difficult) the last word of each line rhyme with the one before it and I try real hard to keep the story continuing. I also signed up for one called Behavior Basic Neurology. I do not know if the interest in that course will be lighting up my mind enough to stay with it.We shall see and I deserve a Bravo sticker (like is given out at Weight Watchers meetings to the people attending, that lost a few pounds or a pound or did something great during the previous week), if I complete either of these two courses.

Everyone needs to find their happiness even in our senior years. Just as young people go off to college to pursue the knowledge of an education and also for a profession; older folks need daily physical exercise. I do my stationary bike 2 miles or more every day. They need to involve themselves in interesting fun things to do and see and most of all to keep their minds active by reading, maybe doing puzzles, learning something new in a course, ballroom dancing, traveling and even taking a cooking course to keep the brain meaningful and happy too.

I have related in former articles that Mom volunteered at Sinai Hospital one day a week. It kept her active, eager for her day to come.  She went there on the transit bus herself, arriving there and doing a six hour day of work to help others. I write these columns and this sure keeps the brain stimulated looking up proper Thesaurus words to enhance my writing, others knit and give their finished products to folks that may need them or to family members to celebrate an event. I know people who escort patients to doctor visits and even with the cost of using their own gasoline for the traveling; that is their volunteer work. I know of a former mathematics teacher who coaches kids who require some help with their school work. I know of a former caterer who teaches new brides and brides to-be on the way to become a gourmet cook. She only charges for the materials (food) she uses and they come to her home and her lovely new kitchen, and she teaches them to bake, to cook and how to shop and save money at the food store.

All of these things keep the mind active and even if it is for one day a week, they have given of their self to others to learn something valuable for future use. This stimulates and keeps the ‘teacher’ alert and she or he enhances the lives of others, to invest time to learn proper nutrition, volunteer at something, learn a sport or just to be involved in the community.

When you give of yourself, you get it back ten times from what you contribute to others’ lives. I have helped several people who think I write well to write an important letter to their boss or to someone else, because they were unable to do it as accurately and creatively as I can do. Modest, I am not, but to know your own abilities and to be proud of them is necessary for the upkeep of our qualities and to continue doing so. It is not being obnoxious; it is to be cognizant of one’s competency and proficiency in some field and to be eager to share your knowledge with someone else.

 I know I cannot play tennis well,  though I did when a teenager, I do not know how to golf, I never learned, I use to know how to play the piano very good as a teen, cannot now, I use to know it beautifully, though I believe that it would come back to me. Keep up what you are excellent in and share it if you can with others, so that they may excel in something too, regardless of their NOW age. It is never too late to learn and as Tennyson said the gray spirit yearning in desire or I can add  ‘ for desire’, is to follow knowledge, not like a sinking star as he said, but as a rising star, who can still shine, sparkle and be satisfied with them self. This is most important and perhaps when I take the free neurology course in February, I will learn how significant it is to keep on learning at any NOW age and it is very profitable for our whole being.

There is a new word I learned and heard today and it is neologism. It means new word, new term, and new expression. So we can have a new word for our new desire to keep on learning. It could be a combination of several words. See if you can coin one yourself, mine will be  “a new me for my now old me, who wants to become and stay newme- (one word). Instill in yourself, that you as a senior or not yet senior or even a young person, who wants to change; become a NEWME NOW!!! Newme is my word and I shall keep it close to me and hope you do the same.