When are you too old? A lesson from my oldest sibling.

Today I got off the freeway to see the brand new corporate office building that will house my brothers company.   He started the company

The New ASEA Corporate office building in American Fork/Lindon

after he retired from working for “the man” in his sixties.

In 1825 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow spoke to Bowdoin College.  His poem Morituri Salutamus is a classic on aging.

We don’t study great poets much these days.  This one warrants some consideration. Who cannot be intrigued by:

  • In mediæval Rome, I know not where,
  • There stood an image with its arm in air,
  • And on its lifted finger, shining clear,
  • A golden ring with the device, “Strike here!”

The story goes onto to talk about life’s experiences.

In the closing realm of this great address, Longfellow talks of those who started serious life’s works in their later years.

  • Cato learned Greek at eighty
  • Sophocles wrote Oedipus at eighty
  • Theophrastus wrote “Characters of Men” at age ninety
  • Goethe completed Faust at eighty
  • Chaucer wrote Canterbury Tales at sixty.

When are you too old?   Research shows that when you slow down to retire, your physical body starts the shut down process.

Extend those dreams. . . live.

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