The Meaning of Life

YESTERDAY

I am young and I know the answer to the question What is the meaning of life? I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself, and I'm patting myself on the back for having figured it out at such a young age.  Yes, I do have a sense of exaggerated importance but with all of this knowledge comes arrogance.  I'm way smarter than those white-haired slow movers who years ago ran along the same path as the one I'm running on now. In my hurry to get to wherever it is I'm going, I race past them everyday as they sit in their porch rockers and wave to me but I give them little notice. We have nothing in common. Absolutely nothing. I am young and they are, well, not.

TODAY

I am old and I know that much of what I thought was true in my youth was, in fact, false. I feel humbled by how much I really didn't know. Because my body is in compliance with the natural laws of aging, I am viewed differently now. Yet, I still have the same brain now as I did when I used to run past the folks who just yesterday (or so it seems) sat on the same porch and in the same rocker that I'm sitting in now. Why are these young people always in a hurry to get to wherever it is they're going? I wave to them but they don't notice me sitting here. Excuse me? Did you say something? It's my hearing, ya know. Not so good anymore. Am I leaning to the right? Well, yes. Yes I am. Thank you for stopping long enough to notice. I was trying to scratch my back, and my arm got stuck in the rocker. Oh, sorry. That wasn't the question. You're asking if I know anything about breeding lice? Oh no, honey, I don't like bugs. I ate a grasshopper once in Thailand, though, but that was oh so long ago and on a dare. Would you like to hear that story? Oh, sorry. That wasn't the question, either. Ask me again, only this time talk into my good ear.

"DO YOU KNOW THE MEANING OF LIFE?"

Well, no. No, I don't. But I know someone who does. Have a seat, honey, and I'll ask my husband, Tom, to hobble on over here to answer your question.

"ZZZZZzzzzzzz" (Tom is napping two rockers away.)

"Tom?"

"Heh?"

"Can you come here, please?"

"HEH?"

"I said, 'CAN YOU COME HERE, PLEASE?'"

"WHY? I'M NAPPING!"

"There's a young person here who has a question about cleaning a pipe."