I have reached three-score years, which I believe to be the half-way mark of normal life on this planet. What this means is that I may get to live the same number of years again, with several advantages and constraints.
The advantages are that I get to take all the knowledge, qualifications, experience and assets I acquired during my first half into my second. The constraints are that I also get to take the responsibilities and consequences associated with the decisions I made during my first half into my second.
BUILDING FOUNDATIONS.
The average life expectancy for men and women in Barbados is approximately 74 and 78 years respectively. That may reinforce the common belief that we are only allotted three score and ten or 70 years of life – despite God’s allotment of 120 years (Genesis 6:3). Barbadians receive their normal national pension at 67 years. Many healthy and capable persons retire at that age but expire from ill health an average of approximately seven years later.
If we believed that our first 60 years is the foundation on which we must build our second, we may built that foundation carefully. There are events outside our control that affect the materials we are given to build our foundations. However, assembling those materials carefully to build a stable foundation, or carelessly to build a weak one, is entirely within our control.
PLODDING ALONG.
I did not plan my life. As a child, the Government mandated school attendance and the school chose my subjects. I was expected to attend school and learn whatever was taught. However, for most of my school life, my parents’ hopes and teachers’ expectations were far beyond my capabilities as I normally occupied the bottom third of my class – failing to even to meet my own low expectations.
In an attempt to help me, my mother sent me to lessons with Mr Wharton. After the first session, Mr Wharton explained to my mother that she should not worry about me because I was a plodder. He predicted that I would not get there with the lead pack, but I would eventually get there.
ORDER A CASKET.
At university, I ate unhealthy meals provided by the lowest bidder contracted to feed hungry students. I continued my unhealthy eating habits well into my engineering career, where I worked long hours, ate unhealthy food and rarely exercised. The part of my foundation to which I paid the least attention was my health.
After pains in my head became more frequent and severe, I visited the Sir Winston Scott Polyclinic where a doctor gave me the options of changing my lifestyle or ordering a casket. After choosing the change-lifestyle option, she told me to visit nutritionist Dr Mark Alleyne – who likely saved my life. I had to demolish that part of my foundation that I built carelessly and rebuild it carefully.
BUILD TO LAST.
I did not plan to build a foundation. I just kept living, accepting responsibilities and doing my best while being guided by the twin commandments of loving God and helping others. I have learnt that it is better to finish tasks well than to finish them quickly, and being patient with others as they struggle to complete tasks well improves the strength of my foundation.
I do not know what will be built on this foundation that has been built, rebuilt, repaired and strengthened over the past 60 years – but I think it will be wonderful.
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