The Key To Eternal Life

       I went to a viewing of an Independent film the other night about an aging actress who is concerned with… Aging. At the end of the questions and answers, she said, “If anyone knows how to live forever, let me know. I’d like to hang out with you.” She is – forty-five? – and she’s worried about dying already? Not a good sign.

As I was thinking about age and its ramifications, it came to me how to, as she put it, “live forever.” Well, not live forever, but how to stave off “old age.” (Last night I watched a movie where one of the two leads was debuting in her first acting job at 86 – so there’s still home Jane.)

The answer is this. If you worry about ‘growing old,’ guess what, you’ll grow old all the faster. If you pay age no mind, you’re more likely to grow less old (er), as quickly. Once you start worrying more about dying instead of living, you’re a gonner. Done deal. It’s all down hill from here, baby!

Of course, I’ve never had children. Besides the old adage that children will age you quicker, just seeing your children grow (much less the taxing of your energy in the process of their growing) will serve as a near-by constant reminder that YOU’RE GROWING OLDER. Or not.

It’s harder to see yourself as being in your youthful years when all of a sudden your child is graduating from high school and leaving home. It’s even harder still when those ‘children’ of yours have children of their own. But it isn’t a required part of the equation.

You see; attitude is everything. I’ve known women (yes, in the ‘biblical sense’ and otherwise) who have had children, grown up with them, and still managed to not let ‘old age’ catch up with them. Yes, some of them were in their forties and fifties chrono-logically but still in their teens emotionally. But there have been some for whom the idea that just because their children grow up, they don’t have to ‘grow old.’

Jesus said that to see the Heaven you needed to be “as a little child.” A child will continue to see the world with wonder; whereas an adult “grows up” and looses that sense of wonder. The women who have retained that sense (and hence retained their sense of youth), didn’t let the fact of their children becoming adults deter them from how they saw themselves.

You ‘grow old’ because you see yourself as growing old. (Well, eating a good diet and exercise also help tremendously). If you see yourself as being young and carefree, you’ll tend to remain as carefree as you can. Perhaps this is why Grandparents love hanging out with their grand children so much?

But there is also another factor that most people don’t put into the equation: if you believe that a Soul last forever, then you can stay younger longer. Age ceases to be such a factor if you think in terms of your being Eternal. This Life ceases to be something that must be ‘used’ to the fullest, if there are other lifetimes, and ‘death’ is not really the end all of our existence.

Think about it…

Excerpt from "The Raceway"

From the new collection "Dreams, Desires, And Dead Ends" All Rights Reserved. 
©2012 Robert Alan Chappell -- Reproduction in part or in whole of this work constitutes property theft and will be prosecuted. 


It was a time of great change, and the Mid-West does not like change.  First there was us, the progeny of the changing nation which would later be called the Baby Boomer generation.  We been born into the seeming prosperity of the aftermath of World War II, and for the time being were one of the welcomed changes occurring in their lives.  That of course would change in just a few short years, centered around the years of '67, '68 and '69. 

John F. Kennedy and Camelot were still in full swing, and he had just announced his intention to Go to the Moon.  Viet Nam and The War At Home were only fragile nightmares for now.  The deaths of the American Ideal that were the assassinations not even in the realm of nightmares as of yet.

And last but certainly not least, were the new motorways (as they were called then), the remaining legacy of Dwight Eisenhower, as far reaching in their consequences for the coming years as the Moon Adventure would be.  The new Interstate Highway System.  Long strips of continuos blacktop spreading and linking all of the major cities in ways that the old highways — often twisty-turny in nature following the whims of the landscape — would not be.  These were supposed to be clean straight lines advancing to and expanding the horizon.  The Age of the Motorcar.

And here I was, growing up in the epitome of speed and advancing metal, Indianapolis; home to The Speedway and The 500.  Sleek shiny pods of metal screaming round and round the circular Pathway of Fate.  

It was also the time of the advent of the (also seeming) Raceway inspired interchange systems designed to re-route long distance traffic around those cities, that would come to be known shortly as Beltways.  These big loops had often ground through neighborhoods, leaving behind (for now) large gashes in the vegetation and housing.  They were at this time, in the process of being born, and like many another change at this time, the birth was not without it muddy consequences. 

that would be the later drainage system under this behemoth, were for now, ramps and tunnels for the gas-fueled dreams of youth.

We of course, the Progeny living within the growing radius of Sub-Urbia, would not find this gouging of the landscape (for now) objectionable.  No, just the opposite.  It allowed for us, living in the shadow of The Raceway, to carve the Raceway of our dreams in this man-made lunar landscape, not for screaming pods of metal, but for screaming bi-pedaled testosterone in the building.  The just placed circular (tubular) concrete conduits that would be the later drainage system under this behemoth, were for now, ramps and tunnels for the gas-fueled dreams of youth.

We didn't have a sports team of note (at that time) to root for, but we did have The Speedway.  It was, at that time, one of the few of its kind in the country, a hint of things to come.  And we used that newly graded but not yet concreted path of the future to our own advantage, speeding around on our bikes, leaping over conduit and change for a time, remaking the larger landscape to our own pathways of dreams.  I spent many an hour where my mother knew I was, going round and round.

And it was also the recent advent of The Mall.  No longer would there be an old-fashioned town center where shops would be, but the clean, gleaming concrete tower of The Mall.  The particular Mall that was close by me at that time, was a siren call to going 'further away from home' than I was 'supposed to be.'  It was the lure of my coming gypsy life, taking me far afield from anything considered home.  
My parents were not amused.  And they also did not see the traveling from city to town far afield influence of my fathers constant need to be On The Road in my further and further wanderings.  All they saw was that I was going where no child of theirs was supposed to go.  Too Far.

I was an awkward, gangly, bespectacled twelve, entering into the throes of what in my later life would be called geek love.  I was the eldest of three boys, so I didn't have an older brother to ask advice from, and I had an absent father who, when he did come home from being on the road, didn't have a lot of time for me and fatherly advice.  In other words, I was on my own.

So I spent every waking hour that I could at Our Raceway, after school and on weekends.  Racing round and round the circuit of dust and dirt, pretending that we were those Racers that were our heroes.

The only other siren call that was close by with nearly as much pull was the small one runway airport that was also within my bikes pedaling distance.  What time I didn't spend at The Raceway, was spent there amidst the Pipers and smells of spilt airplane fuel.  I stood glued to the chain link fence that separated me (for safety purposes) from the dream of speed aloft.  This one would later replace The Raceway, and it's ground based transit mundi. 

"Should Bible Classes be allowed in public schools?"

This was posted by the novelist Anne Rice on her Facebook Page asking for opinions. This below is my response (expanded, of course).

Ms. Rice I'm sorry, but there's a very great distance between what this Governor is advocating (proselytizing Bible 'studies') and what you're advocating (the history of and discerning what/where/how the 'Bible' has influenced 'Western civilization'). This State Official is advocating the opinions of the most radically Reich in her state to influence any and all students about Das Book (which is really all "The Bible" means since for centuries it was the ONLY Book that was allowed to be 'read' [mostly taught, since only the most powerful could even read]).

This would be simple indoctrination and not anything approaching 'study' at all. This is not Constitutionally valid and therefore should not even be considered and should be struck down with all speed (if possible) by the Supreme Court (not that that's going to happen).

From the article in question: Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has signed into law a bill that allows the establishing of elective classes that focus on the Bible and its influence on western civilization.
Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/ariz-governor-signs-bill-to-allow-bible-classes-in-public-schools-73485/#2Rmb6bAVQOzeFMpi.99

"A teacher who instructs a course offered under this section in its [blogger emphasis added] appropriate historical context and in good faith shall be immune from civil liability and disciplinary action," reads the bill.

Ah, and here's the rub. "...in good faith..." There are so many small points of darkness in this potential 'teaching' that boggle the imagination. In bringing in this seemingly benign 'educational opportunity' a gaping hole is being introduced into the Constitutional fabric of the nation. Born-agains are shouting about 'Christian pursecution' while striving to back-door their particular brand of 'Christianity' into the Law of the land.

Never mind that most of the students who would be subject to whatever material that such a 'course' might bring are already 'of The Faith.'  So why can't they receive such information from their Church? Because that is not the intent of this 'bill.'

The insidiousness of this 'bill' would be the means of opening similar 'legislation' in other states. It would be a seemingly innocuous teaching of 'history' to any and all who 'wished to partake.' For now. 

For those of  us whose ideas and beliefs are different from those of the Far Reich, now is the time to speak out against this 'legal means' of 'teaching about "The Bible." ' I am not opposed to the ideas of The Man who they (think they) believe in, but I do oppose any means of further indoctrination in a country that is increasingly non-Christian. Even for those of us who consider ourselves "Christian" (and I count myself [in a qualified way] among those believers), this seems like a non-issue. But I assure you, it isn't.

Reminisce

I smelled a familiar scent in the air one night about two weeks ago right before Christmas. It was one from my childhood and it was one of wonder and one I hadn't remembered smelling for a very long time. It reminded me of the season we were in, and took me back to much simpler times (in a way). It was a scent that felt like wood fires burning somewhere close, combined with that of snow on the chill winter air.

Now normally, it would strike me as a wonderful experience... It once upon a time meant that everything would be made new by a new blanket of chilled white covering all the imperfections of this world, even if only for a day and a night.

Once upon a time, it was magic.

And it would be still. If I were standing in Indianapolis, Indiana, that is, and I weren't really standing in Los Angeles, California. It's supposed to snow in Indianapolis this time of year. It isn't in LA (even though it did, however briefly in Mailbu a couple of years ago).

It's hard enough for me to be here sometimes, especially with the temperatures in the seventies and eighties, and especially during the season where you are hearing "songs of joy and peace" extolling the snow falling and how wonderful it is to see. A serious disconnect as I'm walking in Hollywood, even though I had been just the week before walking past a big Hollywood type of display of the Hollywood Hills covered in three feet of snow.

The clean scent of magic (however wonderful), in (at) an inappropriate time. Boding? As I have said before, the day snow starts falling for real in large quantities in El Lay, is the day that I go back to the Other Coast, where I can expect snow to be falling at that time of year.

Still, it was a wonderful reminisce...