As a boy my favorite toy was a cardboard box. We could break it,tear it,and damage it. No one really cared because nobody really wanted it. Yet, it was a magic place--a castle, a boat, a train, a spaceship, a cave for a cowboy to hide, and endless possibilities as vast as the imagination could stretch. Then when we were through playing, we could nimbly roll over and out or simply step skyward and re-enter the real world by tumbling out of it. Our real world was not exactly full of real boats, train rides,or similar activities that required a bit of money. In a sense, it was a rather limited and confining world, but it was a wonderful fantasy world! Now, many years later, I am reminded of that box as I am free to find another, sit in it, and well...play or work. After a lifetime of serving as a minister and a shorter time as a husband (married a beautiful lady, who has five handsome sons with five cute daughters-in-law that have produced seven marvelous grandchildren) and as a grandfather, I once again have the opportunity to play in a box with my precious grandchildren. It’s my joy to introduce them to the wonderful world of imagination and fantasy within a box.
But then there are some boxes in life that we don’t enjoy. Expectations of old age creep in, and many say this is where you must be--in a box, a pigeon hole in the Golden Years. Despite a lifetime of creative thinking and usually satisfying adventure we call work using our minds, bodies, and souls to achieve a certain goal, our box has transformed into more leisure time. There are boxes that we are encouraged by well meaning folks to climb into by acting our age! We owe it to ourselves to chase the wind while jogging, to read an interesting novel, watch a classic movie, or go to places we always dreamed about, or whatever interest we may possess.
Of course we may not be able to run as fast, think as fast, or sleep as deeply as in the past. There is a long list of transitions that alter our activities. The major need is to permit us to use our mind, body, and soul outside the box so that we may manage our aging with dignity, pride, confidence, eagerness, and to experience each new adventure with joy and excitement.
Anybody want to punch the buttons on a gift shop cash register? Then live it up! Simply greet folks at Wal-Mart? Then goforit! Welcomingpeopleat an information desk in a hospital or whatever rings your bell. Do it! Volunteerism provides a long list of pleasurable and meaningful adventures of funfilled boxes that we can enjoy. If you love children, be a grandmother or grandfather at a preschool in your community. Large hospitals have unwanted babies or terminally ill infants that have no one to hold and rock them. If you are emotionally capable of doing this, go for it! What a blessing you could be! Retirement doesn’t mean being put in a box of inactivity. Instead we can rejuvenate, revitalize, invigorate, and renew. Join the wonderful world of volunteerism. Do what you always wanted to do but didn’t have the time because work and other obligations got in the way. Don’t you dare allow other people to put you in a box and put you on a shelf of immobility before your time! What do you want to do to help other people ordojustforfun? Justdoit! We’re not getting any younger, are we? And one of these days someone will put us in a box of permanent and total inactivity, so let’s live it up. And let's make a difference in this world while we can! John T. Catrett, III Scissortail Hospice Chaplain 306 North Main St., Suite E Bristow, OK. 74010 918.352.3080