Passing on the torch

Let’s discuss an interesting facet of our life. When we are young, we are full of life and dreams. As we grow older, something happens. We begin to slowly lose the dreams and ambitions we had as a younger person. Then as we approach the fifties we begin to yearn for retirement. Many of us even long for it in great anticipation. It seems we get burned out and are eager to be put out to pasture quietly. Is this what we lived for? Do we have nothing to pass on to the younger generation?

The CNMI is in a state of transition. It is seeking direction as it drifts in a confused world. We, the elderly, must not bury our wisdom and experience with our bodies. For some strange reason we turn our backs on the young and do not try to share the wisdom and knowledge we have gained over the years. We, who have toiled hard and long, carry with us a responsibility that I feel we are neglecting. We must pass on the torch of continuity showing how to improve our lives and community.

Let me reach out to all the retirees, male and female, and ask you to share what you have learned over the years. Sit with the young and reminisce with them of days gone by. Show them some of the skills you learned over the years. Motivate them to strive for a better life. Pass the torch of your knowledge on to them. Encourage them to keep it burning brightly.

Too often I see our elderly gather together and try to entertain themselves in isolation from the youth. Instead they should mingle with them and help kindle the flame in the youth. We, the elderly should explain why we enjoy a certain culture, why we think as we do, where we came from and help guide the youth into the future. There are many things we can do to pass on the torch.

Why not visit a school and get to know the youngsters? Read to them. Talk with them. Stand in wonderment as you see yourself but a few years ago. I promise you will walk away with a lighter step and with perhaps a tear in your eye at the wonderment of life.

Go to the hospital and volunteer your services to help with sick patients, especially children. Visit the Northern Marianas Trades Institute and meet the students. Share your experience about how you were at their age. There are lots more ways you can do to pass on the torch. Reach out in the community and assist it in its struggles to improve itself. A stretched out willing hand is always welcome.

There is a saying that I really don’t like but unfortunately seems to be all too true. “Some men die at 25, but are buried at 75.” That is such a sad commentary which I hope does not apply to you.

Let’s look at some senior citizens who kept creating even at what many of us consider old age. Their spirit to pass on the torch always burned brightly.

-Verdi, the famous Italian composer, wrote operas after he was 80 years old.

-Michelangelo was still sculpting masterpieces at 89.

-Claude Monet was still painting great masterpieces after 85.

-Golda Meir was the Prime Minister of Israel at age 76.

-The German philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote some of his greatest works when he was past 70.

Here are some of our more recent senior citizens still active and passing on the torch.

Harry Bernstein, author, published his first book at 96 in 2007.

-Ann Ettaro, my sister, at 87 is still painting and taking art classes.

-Arthur Winston, who at age 100 retired from his job working for the Los Angles Metro after more than 75 years, missing only one day that being for his wife’s funeral in 1988.

-Mae Kabirdem actress who began acting in her 90s.

-Kirk Douglas at 91 years old is giving a one-man show in Las Vegas.

-Leonard Sine of Saipan, at 92, is very active to the point he still goes to work every day.

One of my dearest friends, Win Straube, has written his autobiography in his 70s. His title is I Don’t Know Where I am Going, But I am Enjoying the Ride. Isn’t that a fantastic title? We should all enjoy the ride, not sit by the sidelines and wait for the tap on the shoulder telling us it is time to go.

None of the above is hiding his or her talent under a bush but is sharing their light with others. All of them are active and are giving. Come and join them and share the wealth of experience and knowledge you have accumulated over the years.

Alfred Lord Tennyson, the great English poet, has written about the excitement of old age and the challenges it presents to us in his famous poem, Ulysses. Here are a few lines that have always inspired me when I feel my powers waning.

Picture with me the great Greek hero Ulysses, old and gnarled, as he stands by his ship ready to cast off in search of new adventures. He is now old and tired from his many past ventures and as a ruler of his country. Yet he is not ready to stop his adventures and retire as an old man waiting for death to come and take him. He longs to continue his search and to share his knowledge. Let’s listen as he speaks:

Death closes all; but something ere the end, some work of noble note, may yet be done, not unbecoming men that strove with gods.

Though we are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are—

One equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will.

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield!”[/I]

As Ulysses felt about his old age, I too feel about mine. And believe me, some days I feel like I am a 100 years old. But I cast off in search of new and exciting ventures whenever the opportunity arises. I seek to share what I have learned as I pass though life. Listen again as Ulysses speaks:

[I]“I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch where through gleams that untraveled world…How dull it is to pause, to make an end, to rust unburnished, not to shine in use.”[/I]

As Ulysses and all the others mentioned above and the thousands not mentioned have done and are doing, let us join with them and pass on the torch. We who have lived fruitful lives cannot rest. Join with Ulysses as he casts off in search of new adventures. The youth await our guidance. We have traveled the road they are currently on. Take their hand and help them avoid the pitfalls we may have fallen into.

Remember we pass this way only once. Make sure you leave an impression. Leave your footprints in the sand for others to walk in. We have much to give, much to share. Our community needs us. Let us pass on the torch so the future becomes brighter for those that follow. Before we are called to our Maker let us once more: “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield!” Pass on the torch proudly!