Coprolite Newsletter, November 2003

You’d think that acting sensibly would be good for you. Yet, as I look around at the people I’ve known for many years, I notice something odd. It seems like the ones who are always sensible are the ones who are getting old. The silly ones who don’t know any better are staying young.

I think it’s because those who stay young keep on doing the things they don’t need to do any more. The things that cause pain and inconvenience. The things that put them at risk. The things that disrupt the order of their lives.

For example, a sensible body stops exercising when its joints and muscles no longer enjoy the process. Why make tired legs run when nobody’s chasing you? Why make arthritic arms lift heavy weights when it’s not a necessary part of earning a living? What kind of a fool deliberately does something unpleasant? For that matter, why chew broccoli when Mom is no longer around to force you to? Only a childishly overexuberant body keeps causing itself unnecessary stress.

By the same token, a sensible mind realizes when it has earned the right to relax and be comfortable. An unstable mind keeps poking around at new ideas even when they challenge favorite beliefs. It imagines it has to keep on learning even when there’s no longer a practical need.

A sensible spirit is cautious about love, because it has learned from all those times when it has been disillusioned. A naive spirit carelessly gives love to a person, group, or cause without worrying enough about the consequences.

When you put them all together—body, mind, and spirit—in a sensible way, you have a person who knows how to relax and enjoy old age safely ensconced in his recliner. A rash person keeps stirring the pot. With all that activity, he or she will probably never be able to fully retire.

Groups of people can act young or old, too. Put together a little bunch of sensible people, and you have a family that respects each other’s space. They like each other, but maintain healthy boundaries. They see each other’s good qualities, but they don’t go overboard. On the other hand, some overly enthusiastic families don’t seem to keep any distance at all between themselves. They’re always doing things together, encroaching on each other’s privacy. They’re aware of each other’s irritating little foibles, but they actually go so far as to see them as charming.

Put together enough sensible families, and you have a sensible society. Rule of law, balanced budgets, and all that. A rash young society goes out on a limb by offering freedom to strangers who have done nothing to earn it. It somehow believes its government can be guided by people who don’t much want to get involved, or even vote. It tries to provide for the needy and preserve the environment even when it becomes ludicrously expensive.

Whether you’re talking about a body, mind, or spirit, about a person, family, or society, the mature attitude is to quit struggling when the cost becomes too great.

It’s not that we’re suddenly unable to walk to the store or play ball with the kids or fall in love or volunteer at the food shelf. It’s just that there comes a time when it’s painful or exhausting to do these things. So you stop doing them, and then you forget how.

The immature attitude says the cost is never too great. When life makes you tired or hurt, you just keep going. Whatever you want to do may not be as easy or as fast or as beautiful as before, but it’s important to do it anyway. The only trouble is, forcing yourself to do all that extra living may mean that your new recliner is in danger of going to waste.

Some days I see the wisdom of the sensible approach. Some days I embrace the beauty of the immature approach. But I’m pretty sure that my immature friends are having more fun than the sensible ones.

––Wayne Adams
wayne@coprolites.com
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