Here is an article that dad wrote back in 1974! “A man recently designed a plane that will fly passengers from New York to London in an hour and fifty minutes, and from London to Sydney, Australia in less than three hours. He is also designed some of the first and most successful airplanes. He is NOW in his eighties! Most people die before they are eighty.
“The Bible gives us a ‘rule of thumb’ for how long we have in this life – “three score and ten” (70 years). This is just average of course. In any case, the process of aging is directly tied to how we use our time. One can be young and productive in his eighties, just as others can be old and haggard in their forties!
“Sometimes, age discourages us, since many believe that only the young can have effective new ideas and strength to carry them out.
“Voltaire, the famous French poet and philosopher, wrote over 20,000 letters and 2,000 books and articles, and produced his masterpiece ‘tragedy’ called “Irene” in his eighties, and travelled to Paris to see it before he died at eighty-three.
“Plato, was a student until age fifty and then began a great teaching center.
Phillip Brooks, was most effective in the religious and intellectual world in his sixties.
“Socrates, gave the world his greatest sayings and thoughts when he was sixty-eight.
“Jules Verne, past seventy years old before he gave the world his greatest stories.
“Goethe, of Germany, wrote the first part of “Faust” when he was fifty six and finished it when he was eighty-two.
“Gladstone, the English Statesman was a political figure and educator up into his eighties.
(Dad asked an elderly Christian friend how she lived so long (she was 104). She said, “I just keep on breathing.” Yet there is more to life than to “keep on breathing.”) The important ingredient to “staying young” is creativity! A train conductor maintains a job that doesn’t change… yet with the tremendous power of the mind, one can create in such a task, a genuine joy.
“The greatest challenge of all is in succeeding in one’s family. Raising children is a joy and a challenge… but more important is having a successful relationship with your husband or wife. Children eventually leave… it’s the way it should be.
“Raise your sites in life. Determine that longetivity and creativity can go together. Refuse to be side-tracked or side-lined. Work hard on new ideas. Engage the mind in new productions. Life should always be an adventure.
“You will find that action stops anxiety. Decision brings direction. Determination brings accomplishment. Accomplishment brings a real good feeling, no matter how old you are.
“Get busy, make a difference in this life and in the life of someone else…and occasionally pause and pay your respects to those who pass away.”
“This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalms 118:24)