Translator: Emma Gon Reviewer: Hadrien Meyer
So, let's go back in time.
It's the year 1910, there are dirt roads, very few automobiles
and Halley's Comet has just been discovered.
J.R. Dumas is a merchant, he owns the hardware store
and the furniture store in the then tiny Rockwall, Texas.
He was only 56 years old,
when the doctor told him that he had some kind of a heart condition
and that he should go home and take it easy.
And so he did.
He walked home, walked out on his front porch
overlooking Wells College, sat down in his rocking chair
and basically didn't get up until the day he died,
decades later.
J. R. Dumas was my great great grandfather.
I never met him, but as you can guess,
I heard this story my whole life.
I still cannot imagine.
I have so many thing I want to do.
Like today, I hope to convince each of you
that age should be celebrated,
that it should not be feared
and that there are things we can all do
to help prevent us from becoming victims of aging.
Carl Jung said,
"I'm not what happened to me, I'm what I choose to become."
Dr. Christine Northrop said,
"Yes, growing older is inevitable, but aging, that's optional."
Her book "Goddesses Never Age" was one of many in the stacks of books
I've read in the last year trying to learn
everything I could about aging.
And the great thing that I learned
is that for the most part, it's all right here.
Our views and our attitudes about aging
are major indicators of how we'll actually age.
In the book, "Aging as a Spiritual Practice",
the author Lewis Richmond shares a study
that reveals that people with a positive attitude about aging
live on average seven and a half years longer.
And that a good attitude about aging
is more of an indicator of our longevity
than low cholesterol, low blood pressure or BMI.
And when you love life and try new things
and you savor your life experiences,
you are well on the way to living a longer and more rewarding life.
But I have friends who aren't so interested
in living a really long time
and I've always had this feeling that I will live into my 90s
and if I say something about it, my friends would go,
"Oh, no. I don't want to live that long."
And yet, I have two dear friends with mothers in their 90s.
Both of them live alone.
Jules still works one day a week
and Ronnie played tennis at least once a week, well into her 80s.
I can assure you that neither of these ladies
are sitting at home in their rocking chair waiting to die.
Instead they're showing us what comes with age.
That resilience we've met and mastered
in so many of life challenges.
We're getting to know ourselves.
Hopefully we like ourselves a little bit better
and we're less concerned about what other people think of us.
We're willing to let go of who we used to be,
to embrace who we are now.
A couple of years ago, I've snagged one of the last tickets
to see Willie Nelson perform at the Eisenman.
Audience: Hurrah!
Right on! (Laughter)
He had just turned 80 and I wanted to see him
at least one more time, even though I'd seen him
dozens of times in my radio days.
As the concert played on, he launched into
another one of his classics "Funny how time slips away."
In an instant, I slipped back in time.
The Longhorn Ballroom.
How many concerts did he play there?
"Whiskey River", he owned a club by that name
and he opens every concert with that song.
And who can forget those fabulous 4th of July picnics?
As he played on and I really thought about what was going on,
I was struck by the contrast in my own experience.
On this particular night,
I was sitting in the last row of the balcony.
Back in the day, the who I used to be,
I would have been backstage
or at the worst on the first couple of rows.
But I pondered those moments in great appreciation
and the tears began to fall.
I wasn't crying because I wasn't on the front row,
I was crying with the deepest gratitude for the terrific times I've had.
Instead of holding onto that past,
I appreciated it and then let it go.
Knowing that I'm creating new experiences everyday,
just like so many others have started
and accomplished great things, well into their years.
Benjamin Franklin at 70 years old
became the oldest signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Golda Meir was 70 when she became Prime Minister of Israel.
And Grandma Moses, God love her,
didn't start painting until she was 76 years old
proving that there is hope for all of us.
And I can go on and on, telling you these great stories,
but the point is this:
age can be a great liberator,
if you give yourself permission to love and live the life
that you've always wanted.
That's when the choice comes in.
And if you want to have one of those lives
that is well lived until the end, choose it.
Make choices and do things, be things.
I think it all starts with gratitude.
I think that Ronnie, my friend whose mother played tennis into her 80s,
I think this is the secret of Ronnie's success.
She is grateful every day, for everything.
I think we have to be present,
in this moment and appreciate it,
right here, right now.
And when we fear the future,
we rob ourselves of the joy of right now.
And then I think we need to be of service.
We have heard countless opportunities today
to serve in the most amazing ways.
Pick something that resonates with you
and then be of service.
And then what about yourself?
Sometimes we can be really good at serving other people,
but what about your own needs?
Have you ever wanted to sing or dance
or maybe you've always wanted to write?
Then do it.
Don't die with your story still in you.
And if you're a person who likes to take risks
and you want to have fun,
but "they", you know who they are,
they say you shouldn't, you should be safe.
Well, tell them that you'd rather fall down having fun
than be safe sitting in a rocker.
Life is too short.
And so we make each of these choices everyday
in the way that we're going to live.
If you're one of those people
who wants to fall down having fun
or if you're a child who has elderly parents,
give your parents permission to have a rewarding and fulfilling life.
Don't let your well-intentioned fear
prevent you from letting them fall down.
Oliver Wendell Holmes says,
"Men do no quit playing because they grow old,
men grow old because they quit playing."
So let's celebrate life.
Imagine the life that you want to live
and then choose it.
Be grateful, be present, be connected,
love your life.
Love life!
Because then you will be rocking your world, not your rocker.
Thank you. (Applause)