"Whoever you are, there is some younger person who thinks you are perfect. There is some work that will never be done if you don't do it. There is someone who would miss you if you were gone. There is a place that you alone can fill." -- Jacob Braude
THIRTY YEARS AGO, at the onset of teenage, I was entering into my physical best. I was a little better than a hormone-driven ape and a little less than a heroics-driven rebel. Like a wild mountain river, my blood could gush anytime, anywhere. In moments of constructive anger, it gushed upwards and in moments of constructive hunger, it gushed downwards. In general, life was governed by passionate tides in my blood. What caused these powerful tides in my blood?
Dreams caused huge tides in my blood. My dreams were mainly of three types: to learn smarter than anybody, to love greater than anybody and to lead better than anybody. In my keen desire and struggle to transform myself from nobody to somebody, I hated to be just like anybody.
THIRTY YEARS FROM NOW, at the first step of old age, I will be entering into my physical worst. I will be a little better than a powerless child and a little less than an egoless monk. Blood will move quietly in my old veins like a gentle river that has almost reached the sea. There will be tides in my blood, but they will not be the high tides of passion. They will be the energising tides of compassion.
Dreams will still cause tides in my blood. My dreams will be mainly of three types: to learn smarter than anybody, to love greater than anybody and to last longer than anybody. In my keen desire and struggle to maintain normalcy of body and mind, I will love to be just like anybody.
TODAY, at the doorstep of midlife, I am at the best of my combined physical and mental strengths. My body is nearly as strong as it used to be at the peak of my youth, but my mind is certainly much stronger than what it used to be at the peak of my youth. Now, my blood moves like a river in search of a dam that can transform the passion of stored water into compassion of useful electricity. Unlike the wild mountain river of youth, my blood no more tries to destroy the hurdles in its path. It now tries to transform these hurdles into stepping stones for rising higher than myself.
I no more desire to be visibly powerful like a thunderbolt, but I dream to be invisibly powerful like channeled electricity. I want to make many light bulbs glow on the way as I travel my own life’s path from passion to compassion.
My dreams are now mainly of two types: to live healthy and strong for next thirty years and to live next thirty years better than the last thirty years. How do I plan to achieve these dreams? Simple: Just by making my today’s self better than my yesterday’s self.
