THE CRUCIAL QUESTION FACING BOTH THE OLD AND THE YOUNG

 

"DO I GIVE UP OR KEEP PUSHING?"

The myth of Sisyphus has a lot of meaning even today. In that famous story, the god Zeus, fed up with Sisyphus' tricks and cunning as well as his arrogance - believing he was more cunning than Zeus - punished him to eternally push a boulder uphill. However, as soon as he would reach the top of the hill, the boulder, like a rolling stone, would roll off and Sisyphus had to push it back again. This daunting task, symbolizing the endless rolling of stones, represents the futile yet persistent endeavors that define the human spirit.

In his 1942 essay "The Myth of Sisyphus," French Algerian philosopher and journalist Albert Camus describes his philosophy of the absurd. The absurd is both a feeling and a condition of existence—it describes the irreparable tension between the human desire for meaning and purpose in life, and the inevitability of oblivion and death. Camus argues that humans should continue to live and try to derive as much fulfillment as they can from their brief existence.

As many of you know by now, I like to journal and write. In other words, I like to reflect on my condition, the direction of my life and the directions of the lives I see around me. When I turned 80, a couple of years ago, I started journaling and writing more about aging - something I was only able to recognize a few weeks ago. The basic question I wrestled with, both in journaling and blog posting, is this: do I give in to aging or do I fight it? That's when I remembered the myth of Sisyphus and his frustration of rolling a rock uphill knowing that he could never do it! I can almost hear him thinking my question to himself: "Do I give up on trying or do I keep pushing?" It was then that the idea for this post occurred to me. It was then that I realized that my question about aging is very similar question young people have about their youthfulness. They face the question: "Do I give in to destructive effects of popular culture or do I push against it?" I realized that, in our own ways, we are both pushing a rock uphill knowing that we will never be able to reach our goal! After all, Sisyphus was condemned to his fate pushing endlessly, so why should we choose this fate?  The answer, of course, is whether we choose what we do with ourselves or whether we let our situations choose it for us! 

THE QUESTION FACING OLD PEOPLE

"Do I accept my death and give up on living or do I push against death and keep on living?"

Some people who retire, take on the attitude of "why bother?" "I have done my duty and I have a right to rest, pamper myself and let others pamper me!" "I have no place in any organization so let the organizations take care of me!" 

I choose to follow another path! I believe in re-inventing myself over and over again each time my circumstances change. I may not be able to do everything I used to do, but I can still do some things, even some new things! I am a firm believer in Bob Dylan's advice who used to sing, "If you are not busy being born, you are busy dying! As Tom Peters, a favorite leadership guru, put it. "Unless you walk into the unknown, the odds of making a profound difference in your life are petty low!" Yes, I want to re-invent myself all the way up to, and including, my last day! 

THE QUESTION FACING YOUNG PEOPLE

"Do I give in to the destructiveness effects of  popular culture or do I push against it as long as I can? 

Popular culture is a very powerful drug and many young people (and not so young) today are addicted to it! Giving into it has destroyed many of them and crippled even more of them. They seem to be following the advice of Oscar Wilde who famously said, "The only way to get rid of temptation is to give into it!" Many follow the path of "if it looks, good, tastes good and feels good, do it!" "If everybody else is doing it, then why not do it too?" 

Seeing the disasters this has caused to so many of their contemporaries, there are, of course, many exceptions to this destructive path. Instead of choosing the path of "personal and spiritual suicide," these exceptions have radically, heroically and sometimes abruptly decided to choose "the road less traveled." Instead of joining the majority who "act out destructively to stand out," they join the minority who "act with integrity to stand out!"  I have heard about two cases recently that give me hope that more young people will join them and chose adventure over comfort, criticism over popularity, generosity over greed, difficulty over ease, obscurity over notoriety and life over death.