Lifespan of an average Indian is steadily going up. According to 2019 statistics, life expectancy is 70 years here while it is 80 in USA. The culture and living pattern of both USA and India are different. An average American continues driving his vehicle and managing personal requirements even after 90 – never waiting for any of his or her children to come and help. In India, parents consider disturbing their children, a holy act of grace and growth. On the other hand, if the person has opted renunciation from worldly life and is in pursuit of spiritual growth, he will be all alone with substantial differences in personal goal and the path. None of those energetic old people in India which includes farmers, scientists, artists, writers etc. live alone – they all continue their tradition of family chain.
Those practises of wasting retired life by eating, sleeping and dreaming are certainly social offences. One way, life turns purposeless and on another way their experiences go unshared. My opinion is that people are to be brought out of this awkward thought pattern.
Winston Churchill became Prime Minister at 81. Clara Burton became Chief of the International Red Cross at 83. Who knows not Robert Frost, the hands behind, “The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.” His best works were during his 80s. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. was an American legal scholar who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States at 90. The list is long …
When Karthiayayaniamma from Alappuzha district of Kerala State passed 4th standard, she was 96. It was Annie Johnson Flint who said, “God has not promised skies always blue, flower-strewn pathways all our lives through; God has not promised sun without rain, joy without sorrow, peace without pain. But God has promised strength for the day, rest for the labor, light for the way, Grace for the trials, help from above, unfailing sympathy, undying love.”
Once, a passenger ship was caught in a violent storm and it was sure to sink. Passengers were running all around desperately. The captain called all of them and said, “There were a thousand ways for us to avoid this tragedy. The best was to stay ashore.” After a small pause he continued, “But ships are built to move in the ocean.”
How perfectly said; we are supposed to be constructively active until our last breath. Even fully grown trees continue in service. Once, If entities like wind, rain, sun or moon had gone on a break, what would have been the fate of the earth?
Whenever we die, there should be a picture incomplete! This is my frank opinion on people and living. Francis Albert Sinatra was the best ever singer from the USA. The epitaph on his tombstone reads, “The best is yet to come.” In case you happen to hear somebody say, “I’m tired”, tell him that you expect the best.
