Time Changes
Posted on June 5, 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oBMDcLf6WA
I’ve noticed that many of the posts I write are about the past. I never wanted to be the kind of writer who dwelt in the past. I always thought of myself as someone who was forward-thinking, even futuristic in my outlook. Why is this happening to me? I don’t want to be thought of as a sentimental old fool, out of touch, an anachronism, a useless elder whose wisdom is boring and meaningless to young people.
But wouldn’t I look sillier if I tried to keep up with the fashions and trends of the young? God forbid I should get a tattoo, or worse, a piercing! I’m not on Facebook. I don’t Tweet. I use a Smartphone, but crudely, for basic functions, not the way I see my daughter using it, as a multipurpose instrument, accessing web sites, texting, and updating her Facebook page on the fly.
Are there some pieces of knowledge that are only available to those of a certain age? Everything I know about the creative process tells me that’s not true. Deep creative inspiration can come at any time. Mozart started writing symphonies at the age of eight. Conversely, Nikos Kazantzakis wrote all his most famous works, Zorba the Greek and other novels, after he turned sixty-five. There are no rules about creativity.
And there are no rules about how to live, or what being young or old should look like. If you’re a young person who has new perspectives on life, don’t hold back–share them! And if you’re an older person and you want to dress in wild colors, or dye your hair bright red, or plaster your body with ink, go for it!
I’m going to fall back on a chestnut from another old and nearly forgotten writer from the past:
