My life's purpose as a senior citizen came to me on the ride home from the grocery store
June 24, 2017
How has your life changed in the last 13 years? I'm talking about from the end of 2004.
I retired in very early 2005 and found myself without a clear easy-to-follow plan for what comes next.
Most of my adult life had centered around my various jobs in journalism, politics and with my family. Newspapers went into a death spiral right around that time. My time in politics moved from being motivating to more like serving a prison sentence.
I got involved in my urban neighborhood, in a couple of ministries and tried to get involved in my church. Some of it clicked and some of it didn't.
One constant remained. I was always curious and I really like learning new stuff. When riding with him in his family van, I liked sitting with my young grandson who always had questions. I knew some of the answers, but he and I would always come up with more questions.
They are all red. Riding home from the grocery store today on rural roads in our county, we passed several barns. I had never thought of it before, but I wondered why most barns are read. Have you ever thought about it? Why are they red?
What I'm saying here is that I want to be a life-long learner. I want to state that desire openly. There's so much to learn and so little time. In school, my grades were usually right on the edge. But I always liked learning stuff I was interested in.
Maybe I need a business card or a t-shirt that says, "I'm a lifelong learner and proud of it." I wonder if my grandkids would wear them.