I suppose we have all thought about the future,
What we don’t realize, perhaps, is how different it is,
When we finally arrived. I check out the landscape.
My plans and feelings are being deeply reviewed.
It’s nothing like what I thought it would be.
Nothing. Throw a few wrenchs into the clog of life.
Face some challenges you never really thought about.
Watch the world become differently hued
Even when you grew up thinking and loving science fiction.
A younger man I follow, who’s presented some insight into writing,
He went through what any of us would call a meltdown.
His life shattered. His dreams are different. When he started adulting,
I’m sure he never thought where life would be today.
Add to my thought any number of folks we read in scripture.
Joseph, Job, Noah, Moses, or even Abraham…
While we are at it, let’s talk to Jonah,
Paul, Daniel, or those three Hebrew boys.
Agreed, life was different, and we see only from now
Looking back, we understand, but they lived it!
Suddenly, I realized that’s part of the joy of aging.
You may think you’ve planned sufficiently for the future,
And then you live it. Can any of us be certain?
Is our present what we thought it would be?
How about tomorrow? Next decade. 40 years from now?
Bring it more recent. My grandparents, parents…
Wait. There’s me? That’s where I started my thought.
These three generations include me. Life is different
From 1895 to 1900 and as late as 1904. (Grandparents)
Then 1930, and 1935 (Parents)
Finally, 1955 (me and my bride).
Between those years, there were wars and financial disasters.
Life, birth, death, tragedy, and wait…a pandemic called the Spanish Flu.
As they passed from the scene (1976, 1977, 1987, 1993 – Grandparents)
Then, my dad was gone in early 2020, but mom is still going strong.
My bride and I are alive and living the last year of our ’60s.
The next birthday for me? Whoa! 70!
Let me pause right there.
From the beginning to my 70th.
That’s 130 years long. (2025-1895=130)
Those 130 years are found in three different centuries.
Can you see how life has changed?
There’s no idea what the next 30 years will be.
And that’s where I find myself today.
With where we’ve come from and are positioned today,
AI on the horizon is ready to change everything.
Technology and life will keep bumping us along.
I look at the span of life
Me and my ancestors have had.
We are not too far from horse and buggy days,
No telephone or computing machine.
This morning. I’m Thinking.
About the Future.
Am I ready for the next step?
What will it be?
A favorite thought of someone who helped me enjoy the stars:
“Remember, it isn’t the dreamers who have good lives – it’s the doers.
Remember also what I call the three Ps of success: passion, planning, and perseverance.”
Homer Hickam
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