Blog 3774 – 03.12.2026

What Comes Next?

I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, nor was my mother or hers a Gypsy fortune teller. I am skeptical of anyone who thinks that they can predict the future and I even look at the ten day weather forecast with a wary eye. What comes next is hard to predict because our tomorrow is made up each day and is ever changed by the choices we make today, therefore there is no fate, but what we make.

We cannot change the past. We can however learn from it and make the most of today creating the potential for an ever better and brighter tomorrow. Sadly many people my age, and even younger, have already concluded that their best days are behind them and bitterly resent the loss of their attractiveness, their youth, and their predominance. All three of those things are not only fading but over-rated, I think.

Trying to hold on to those three illusive and transitory elements of the early stages of a long life, if we are fortunate enough to get to get one, just makes us look foolish. We see such foolish all around us in the entertainment industry, politics, business – old people desperately trying to hold on to fleeting youth, to fading looks, and to diminishing power and influence.

One of the best ways to avoid thinking ourselves a has-been or worse a never-was is to re-invent ourselves. Those who think themselves past their prime in looks, age, or influence can choose to become bitter, resentful, and miserable or they can go within and discover Who and Whose they truly are.  After which we can finally discard the persona or mask that we have long worn to hide our true identity.

What comes next? Who knows, yet with the poet I say, “Come grow old with me, the best is yet to be.”

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David James White

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qQry639ffhDsVJRRLyrwdL7-VMdY2Rg0/view?usp=drivesdk

When I’m Sixty-Four