Oldster's Obligation

Thursday, September 11, 2008
12:06:03 AM EDT


Oldster's Obligation


Know that if you turn aside from your journey
you're on a new journey with a different goal.

DB - The Vagabond

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What does an old man do when he discovers that he is practically useless to the world? What if he became an actor to spread some ripples of light, joy and entertainment? But what if no teeth to "speak the speech trippingly" and an uncontrollable cough and a painful hip brought an end to that career? Then what if he went to drawing and painting, hoping to continue, but deteriorating eyesight made that too hard? Then what if he took to writing, only to find a diminishing readership and that others could write better and in much greater depth on the same subjects, and that the comments they got were much more important and articulate than the ones he left? And what if even reading became too difficult for him as he struggled to bring the words into focus even with a magnifying glass? What if he has a stack of interesting books that he will never get to read? What if the meager amount of money that comes in to him goes to pay his debts, which are staggering? What if he has no friends or family around? What if he has a son who is an elusive stranger to him? What if he went to work for a theatre that doesn't want him any more? What if he is a poor, sick, useless, lonely, old man? And what if, in the face of all of that, he refuses to give up? What then?

DB - The Vagabond