07-14-11
"Oh, father of the four winds, fill my sails, across the sea of years,
...With no provision but an open face, along the straits of fear."
Led Zeppelin
Problem; It is an observable fact that many of the surfers, long distance bicycle riders, and competitive sailors that I meet are both older and more capable than myself.
Hypothesis; Age is only a metric and does not necessarily determine what is and is not possible for an individual to accomplish. My kids are 'Millennials" - part of the social media, digital generation who were not alive before the internet. To virtually all of there generation, an undertaking such as the STP is the stuff of professional athletes and beyond the capabilities of ordinary mortals. To my wife and I the question is; can we do in our 50's the same sorts of things we could do in our 20's and 30's?
Procedure; While continuing the slow, careful removal of all fittings from the fiberglass hull of Sigrun, we found discretionary time to test the hypothesis by engaging in the Seattle to Portland (STP) double century (200 mile) bike tour this month as a family. In order to test the afore mentioned hypothesis on the broadest possible sample base, we determined that the whole family should attempt this goal including our (just barely) teenagers, all the way up to yours truly who is looking at the big-five oh.
Results; With a healthy dose of support from family and friends all from the just-barely teen to the 50 yr old geezer finished the tour just fine. We didn't set any land world speed records (although possibly a new record for the length of time to complete and STP), but that was never our intent. For the kids, this undertaking was hard to imagine when we first resolved to do it, and in doing it they are confronted with inner strength and capability that they did not know they possessed. For me it is proof that 'age' is (at least to a large extent) a psychological fallacy that an increasingly dysfunctional civilization attempts to foist upon us... You know, the whole "forever young", "my generation", cult of youth thing.
As I stick around this world - over time I find myself questioning more and more of the presumptions that seem ubiquitous in our culture. At first it was 'doomsday' statistics from the 1970's that assumed that the rate of occurance of something would not change in the future and would thereby send civilization blazing off into apocalypse. More and more I develop my own tests of these presumptions and find them to be at best - gross oversimplifications and at worse - simply wrong. This is unfortunate because with our media and communications technology does a really effective job at shaping popular perception (or even personal perception if you let it).
Conclusion; My kids are stronger and capable of much more than they have been led to understand in the past. My wife and I are still very capable of undertaking 200 mile bike rides as we enter out 50's (and there were plenty of riders that were older than we). I also have arrived at the realization that insomuch as the reality of these understandings was hypothetical - and is now demonstrated fact, that this was in essence a creative act... Creating facts out of concepts.
Recommendations; Undertaking took considerable time and energy that could have pushed closer to completion by now, but the creative nature of it merits inclusion in this stream of thoughts and blog ramblings. Now, armed with what we've learned, we are back to our other creative pursuits. My recommendations; kill your TV, question authority, and go build a boat...
"Oh, father of the four winds, fill my sails, across the sea of years,
...With no provision but an open face, along the straits of fear."
Led Zeppelin
Problem; It is an observable fact that many of the surfers, long distance bicycle riders, and competitive sailors that I meet are both older and more capable than myself.
Hypothesis; Age is only a metric and does not necessarily determine what is and is not possible for an individual to accomplish. My kids are 'Millennials" - part of the social media, digital generation who were not alive before the internet. To virtually all of there generation, an undertaking such as the STP is the stuff of professional athletes and beyond the capabilities of ordinary mortals. To my wife and I the question is; can we do in our 50's the same sorts of things we could do in our 20's and 30's?
Procedure; While continuing the slow, careful removal of all fittings from the fiberglass hull of Sigrun, we found discretionary time to test the hypothesis by engaging in the Seattle to Portland (STP) double century (200 mile) bike tour this month as a family. In order to test the afore mentioned hypothesis on the broadest possible sample base, we determined that the whole family should attempt this goal including our (just barely) teenagers, all the way up to yours truly who is looking at the big-five oh.
Results; With a healthy dose of support from family and friends all from the just-barely teen to the 50 yr old geezer finished the tour just fine. We didn't set any land world speed records (although possibly a new record for the length of time to complete and STP), but that was never our intent. For the kids, this undertaking was hard to imagine when we first resolved to do it, and in doing it they are confronted with inner strength and capability that they did not know they possessed. For me it is proof that 'age' is (at least to a large extent) a psychological fallacy that an increasingly dysfunctional civilization attempts to foist upon us... You know, the whole "forever young", "my generation", cult of youth thing.
As I stick around this world - over time I find myself questioning more and more of the presumptions that seem ubiquitous in our culture. At first it was 'doomsday' statistics from the 1970's that assumed that the rate of occurance of something would not change in the future and would thereby send civilization blazing off into apocalypse. More and more I develop my own tests of these presumptions and find them to be at best - gross oversimplifications and at worse - simply wrong. This is unfortunate because with our media and communications technology does a really effective job at shaping popular perception (or even personal perception if you let it).
Conclusion; My kids are stronger and capable of much more than they have been led to understand in the past. My wife and I are still very capable of undertaking 200 mile bike rides as we enter out 50's (and there were plenty of riders that were older than we). I also have arrived at the realization that insomuch as the reality of these understandings was hypothetical - and is now demonstrated fact, that this was in essence a creative act... Creating facts out of concepts.
Recommendations; Undertaking took considerable time and energy that could have pushed closer to completion by now, but the creative nature of it merits inclusion in this stream of thoughts and blog ramblings. Now, armed with what we've learned, we are back to our other creative pursuits. My recommendations; kill your TV, question authority, and go build a boat...
1 comments:
Sounds like good advice pete!
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