permaculture

[Jay Woods <woodsjaya@gmail.com>]

There is another hand. I'm past the three score and ten. So long as one 
aspirin a day (plus a handful of vitamins for the side effects of diabetes) 
works out I'm good to go. There are 60 books on the shelf to read (at a book 
a 
day) and many more in the purchasing queue. There is an acre of ground to 
plant that I bought this winter. There is another acre in the purchasing 
queue 
and I have my eye on 5 acres more. I have eight tables with projects on them 
that are waiting for some part and 50 queued up waiting on time. Life is good 
and to be lived. It won't last forever and the love of my life is, I am sure, 
waiting for me to come.

On Saturday, January 11, 2014 06:58:09 PM John D'hondt wrote:
> And again, I could not agree more Bob.
> For myself, I think I have already reached absolute calm thinking about my
> death and I am still reasonably fit and without major health problems.
> Thing is that I have seen so much destruction in my life and that is only
> speeding up. The North Pacific ocean is already a dead zone thanks to
> Fukushima. In ten years time there will be no more lions, elephants,
> gorillas and rhinos in the wild in Africa. And I can see the destruction
> going on everywhere in Ireland which was not too bad until a few years ago.
> Pollinators gone, severe damage from weather events, hundreds of 
excavators
> clearing the last hedges.
> I am not smart enough to see light at the end of the tunnel.
> John
> 
> >I used to be afraid of dying, when I was younger.  Now I'm 62, and while
> >
> > I am not anxious or looking forward to death, I am no longer afraid of
> > dying. Death is part of life, the renewal of all things.  There are
> > worse things than dying, one of them is continuing to suffer from a
> > terrible and painful condition and extreme medical treatment, which
> > happened to both of my parents.  During one of the last visits I had
> > with my father, who was dying of lung cancer complicated by
> > incompetent/careless medical treatment, he said, "Bobby Max, would you
> > get one of my guns and just shoot me?"  He then laughed and said
> > something like "well i know you can't do that but it would sure be a
> > blessing if you could."  He was tired of suffering and knew his time was
> > near its end, and he was ready.  I hope I have his calmness in the face
> > of that inevitable.
> > 
> > In the meantime, I shudder to think of the impact of actual working life
> > extension drugs. They will be horrendously expensive, and so likely will
> > be used to extend the lives of some of the most evil people on the
> > planet, who will of course continue to commit their evil for even more
> > years.  The nice thing about death is that it is the ultimate
> > equalizer.  Rich or poor, we never get out of life alive.
> > 
> > The permaculture relevance is that death is part of the cycle of natural
> > succession for humans as well as the rest of the living ecosystem.
> > 
> > Bob Waldrop, Oklahoma City
> > http://www.ipermie.net  Permaculture your urban lifestyle & protect
> > yourself from the four horsemen of the modern apocalypse: peak oil,
> > climate instability, economic irrationality, and political criminality
> > 
> > On 1/7/2014 1:56 PM, Toby Hemenway wrote:
> >> On Jan 7, 2014, at 10:48 AM, John D'hondt wrote:
> >>> I think there is a reason why 3 score years and ten (or a bit longer)
> >>> may
> >>> not be such a bad thing.
> >> 
> >> It's a bit OT, but I remember reading that a study showed that the
> >> typical 20-year-old wants to live forever, 40-year-olds want to live to
> >> be 200, 60-year-olds want to live to be 100, and 80-year-olds want
> >> another decade or so if they are in good health. It all works out.
> >> Because, like they say, getting old isn't for sissies.
> >> 
> >> Toby
> >> http://patternliteracy.com
> >>