Words from WW Blog

“The glory of youths is their strength, but the beauty of the aged is their gray hair.” (Proverbs 20:29)

Each day I’m reminded that I’m hobbling into being defined as a relic. A relic, according to an AI search is “an artifact or item from a bygone era that usually has no modern use.” Recognizing my “relic-ism” means that my gained wisdom from my life’s experiences has been put into the basement file cabinet out of sight and out of mind. My tendency to display common sense meets the confused faces of artificially educated folk. To put it mildly, I have become old-fashioned. I am a Cracker Barrel front porch rocking chair rocker.

I recognize I now live in a world that confuses radicalism with reason. College football, for example, has 18 teams in the Big Ten; universities on the West Coast play in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and the Southeastern Conference includes schools outside the Southeast. Elementary school students learning United States geography would flunk their tests if they used college football as a guide for an examination on locations.

I find that my life is increasingly punctuated by others’ “Why” questions. Why can’t we run outside while it’s lightning? Why is it bad to drink six energy drinks during the course of the afternoon? Why shouldn’t I just put my essay topic into AI and let it write my paper? That’s what it’s there for, isn’t it? Why shouldn’t I be allowed to do a wheelie on my motorcycle on the Interstate going 75 miles an hour? Why shouldn’t I invest my money in online sports betting?

As I’ve entered the world of antiquated, I’ve discovered life-wisdom that sounds stupid to the unconvinced and possibly wayward young folk I know. Such as:

1. Nothing good happens after 1 A.M.
2. Power is the narcotic of each major political party.
3. Sports betting is the easiest avenue leading to the poor house.
4. There are so many entertainment options and nothing good.
5. Disney never puts whining children and screaming parents in their TV ads…or a picture of the credit card statement from a month later.
6. Friendships are more valuable than finances.
7. The weekend club sport events for the kids are the new place of worship. Lawn chairs replace church pews, and it’s the kids who are idolized.
8. Even the cheerleaders of our high school days end up with gray hair and wrinkled faces (unless they have surgery).
9. All the modern technology and advanced device have not been able to bring more meaning to life.
10. If Starbucks Coffee had been around for my parents, I might not have been able to afford college. Or maybe they wouldn’t have had money to send me to college!
11. “Everybody’s doing it!” was never true, but it sounded rational when it was said in the moment.

Maybe my wisdom sounds crusty and more pessimistic than optimistic. It comes from viewing the world through a certain lens that sees a lot of promises without substance, possibilities without purpose, and moments of happiness without a smidgeon of joy.

In saying that, I also must admit that I don’t have it all together, that I’m drinking Pike Place coffee as I type this, and my body groans more than a bear waking up from hibernation. My joy comes from Who I am rooted in and the relationships that cause my heart to sing.

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This entry was posted on August 28, 2026 at 12:46 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: family, fiction, Life, love, writing

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