STILL TRUCKIN’

     I just back to the States after a month of teaching in China as part of VSU’s Maymester Study Abroad program. As I’ve been talking with people about my experiences, the inevitable question always pops up: “when are you going to retire? True, I’m 68 going on 69 in November, and I’ve been at VSU in the classroom since 1967. But, I’ve got the vitality, as I always say, of an “experienced teenager” by refusing to grow old as I grow older. Now, my strategy for being and staying this way is simply a matter of attitude, of following the gold rule by loving myself and knowing that it is not about my self, but all about transcending myself. I play the optimizing “today game”: I live a life balanced between working with both my hands and mind, and not being anything approaching a consumed and imbalanced workaholic; I live life intently each “today,” not worrying about any “yesterday,” and knowing from experience that tomorrow is not guaranteed to me; I get up each day with a “yes,” wondering what I will do today to make a positive difference in someone’s life; and, I focus on the quality of my professional and personal life rather than the quantity of my resume or bank account. The tactics I use to employ this strategy are to keep my body and spirit as the sacred, noble, and unique temples they are:

1. I take a refreshing, reviving, revitalizing 20 minute, near-coma inducing power nap each day.

2. I stay physically in shape by exercising with a regimen of every-other-day light weight lifting, a four mile every-other-day power walk, and keeping my weight within ten pounds of what it was when I was a collegiate athlete fifty years ago;

3. I stay mentally lean and mean by doing at least two crossword puzzles each day, as well as constantly designing and redesigning both my garden and the interior of the house;

4. I stay spiritually lean and mean by constant journeys inside myself with self-reflection and self-evaluation on my purpose and meaning in life;

5. I stay professionally lean and mean with constant thinking and writing and doing and sharing at conferences and campus workshops about classroom teaching;

6. I have a glowing inner fulfillment by doing what I love and love what I am doing, and still having a heck of a lot of fun doing it;

7. I stay socially connected with a coterie of friends who are so dear to me that they are not like family; they are family;

8. I stay professionally connected with a coterie of professional colleagues who are dear to me as close friends

9. I am an invigorated questing “let’s see what happens” dancing comrade-in-arms with fearlessness, adventure, imagination, serendipity, curiosity, creativity, and experimentation;

10. I believe in myself and am a light unto myself, and enter new worlds in order to expand my world, confidently seeing challenge as fraught with possibility rather than with barriers;

11. I am a dear friend of energizing “newness,” making sure my stone is always rolling, that I never let moss gather on it or have grass grow under my feet;

12. I welcome growing pains, for it tells me that I am growing. That is, I am constantly learning about learning that is being learned by voraciously reading on the research, attending teaching conferences, experimenting with teaching techniques, and reflecting on my both teaching experiences and my philosophy of education;

13. I am always talking with my flowers and koi fish;

14. I have a “medicinal” glass of wine and bit of cheese each day with Susan while either playing backgammon or just sitting by the koi fish pond–and always talking and listening;

15. I find meaning and purpose in my life by helping students find meaning and purpose in their lives having learned that Ghandi was right, that the best way to find myself is to lose myself in the service of others;

16. I have an inner calm and joy, and I refuse to let anyone or anything disturb me, remake me, or define me;

17. I constantly smile and laugh and joke around;

18. I joyously spoil my grandmunchkins every chance I get;

19. Having beaten cancer and being a miraculous “walking ‘5%'” survivor of a massive cerebral hemorrahage, I know what really matters and live that knowledge each day with anything but matter-of-factness;

20. I don’t smoke, and, though I love my morning coffee, I eat very well–usually chicken, fruit, nuts, vegetables, fish–with a very occasional lapse of chocolate, ice cream, steak and hamburger, donuts, and Susan’s magnificent once-a-year cheese cake;

21. And finally, and undeniably most important, I never take for granted that I luckily have had Susan by my side for 43 years each day I wake up, go about my day, and go to sleep.

      That’s enough. Yeah, it’s that simple and that complex, that easy and that challenging. I know one day the battery will run out and the pink bunny within will stop, but I will tell you this: until that day arrives, the living these twenty-one things makes each day a fun-filled, exhilarating, youthful, meaningful, purposeful, and fulfilling day.

Louis

MY COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS

     It’s that time of the year. Here is my one minute commencement address:

      “Okay, folks. I know you’ve got your degrees because you’re sitting there crowded together wearing those sweaty medieval robes and silly looking hats. You don’t really want to hear me, do you? You’re not really interested in reflecting, are you? And, you’ve had your fill of advice, haven’t you? You just want to go out and celebrate your survival. So, I’m going to make sure that you will have had to put up with me for about a minute. Literally! Clock me! I’m just going to say this: the most important aspect of your education is not what happened in the classroom, in the dorm or apartment, in the sorority or fraternity house, in the field house, in the theater wing, or in any campus or off-campus nook and cranny. Your education really has been all about what happened inside you. These years of getting an education are really about experiencing the growing pains of growing up. In fact, you’re about to find out that is what your life, and all life, will always be about.”

     “That’s it. Didn’t believe me, did you? Now let’s get out of here and party.”

Louis