A Fresh Start

"Everybody wants to rule the world." - Tears for Fears

Thirty-six years.

It is an age wherein you're too old to be considered hip and too young to be respectable. At least it seems that way by today's standards.

Personally, I've discovered that this is a number of great opportunity for a human life.

Half a lifetime is just about right to have experienced enough of life's challenges to begin anew. Take a fresh start. Have a breather.

Be born again.

Am I the first to tread on this path? Certainly not.

History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. Sometimes people say, "Here is something new!" But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. (Ecclesiastes 1:9-10 NLT)

Is this a reason to be sad? To be disappointed? To be angry?

A lot of people nowadays seem to think that you have to discover or invent something new to be of any value to humanity.

We wait in eager and hungy anticipation for the "next big thing": some magic formula that would cause a frenzy of euphoric delight.

Like waves splashing against the rocks, we brace ourselves for the next impact. Slowly, we are worn down, shod of our soft topsoil until only hard, jagged cliffs and coarse sand remain.

Such is the fate of the unmoving. Life wears you down and eventually passes you by.

Oh, but we can be a stubborn lot we humans. We never seem to run out of those intrepid individuals who choose to stand against the tide. Those who try to best the odds and try to swim against the current.

Our history is measured by the kingdoms and empires of such men.

Their bones are being dug up even as I type this blog.

So am I to just throw up my hands, fall on my knees and sigh along with the Preacher: "Vanity of vanities! It is all so meaningless!"

Until I realize, that I live in a time over two thousand years after our calendar was reset to zero.

A new start. A fresh beginning.

A new hope.

Life begins at zero. For me, it begins anew at thirty-six.

Except this time, I'm choosing to ride the Big One to the end.

Anyone care to get wet?