Looking for a new, important activity that will be exclusively yours? Something of true but as yet unrecognized value that will long transcend you and your life?
Then become the protector, keeper, and champion of something that you care very much about. Become its patron saint and jealous, faithful conservator.
Like what? Write the history of your town fire department or your local church. Explain in total detail the foot-treadle dental drill, the much-cliched buggy whip, or the c-cedilla (ç). Tell of the pre-success attempts at creating synthetic rubber. Adopt the starter crank or the 8-track audio cassette. Plant your family tree.
What does that mean? Pick a topic and become the expert about it. Learn absolutely everything that one can about it. Collect the written references (or at least their sources), gather every available sample of it in its developmental and production stages, identify the names critical to your topic's creation and maturation, explain what others must know about your subject, then make that knowledge and what you have gathered accessible to others—in short, treat your activities the way you would if its historical existence was solely in your hands. It may well be.
Become a not-too-silent model in the ever-evolving field of social history. Alas, history has legs. It just keeps evolving past those key little moments when something—a thing, an idea, a process—appears and then disappears, blends into something else, or simply keeps on doing its thing (but in the background and hardly noticed) until it fades away and isn't noticed at all.
Why should anybody be its champion? There may be no logical reason other than the importance of keeping knowledge of the threads of a civilization alive so that now and later we can better understand its cloth: its design, weave, texture, and maybe even—best seen in retrospect—its purpose.
We're not talking about mortgaging your home to build a shrine or forsaking your earthly belongings on some monastic quest. Just the odd hours and some spare cash that are being wasted anyway, or frittered away to fill time and keep you from being consumed by boredom.
How will you benefit? You will gain direction and focus. You will learn a thousand things that you didn't know you wanted to learn! You will cross paths with other eccentrics, tap reservoirs of lore and wisdom soon to be lost, develop pride in making a permanent contribution to all mankind (however esoteric it may seem to your family and the IRS), stay out of jail, and be featured on a local radio or TV show every three or four years when "news" is slow. You will also encounter strange new friends with "hobbies" as weird as your own.
Will anybody propose you for knighthood, bequeath you a million dollars, or even really thank you for your quiet contribution? No. If you need that kind of approval, assume Somebody or Something in heaven is keeping track and adding angelic feathers to your future bed.
What might you do with your new knowledge? Perhaps create a simple website in which you explain what you are doing, share what you learn as it becomes available, display photos of what you gather, ask others to join in by providing their knowledge and their photos, open a dialog with anybody eager to learn about the topic, and create a key bibliography and source guide so others after you can expand what you are starting.
Oddly, what begins as a very private quest can quickly become a funfest, with someone's grandson setting up the website, a daughter correcting your prose, a neighbor helping you put the samples in running order, a local museum vying to store your goods "when you are ready," and your neighbors treating you as a valuable asset! But don't count on any of that. They are just as likely to humor you while secretly wondering if your new activity is the first sign of incipient dementia.
Of course, rather than "going public," you can keep your knowledge and things in a locked box in your closet, work only after dark, use secret codes, and let the executor of your will figure out what to do with your box of gold. But why?
If you do adopt something, then preserve its existence and everything
about it so that it can later be understood and esteemed, you be neither
alone nor unappreciated. At least you will be my hero.
And hundreds of others will bless you through eternity for your selflessness
and true contribution. To be thought a bit deranged now is a small price
to pay!
Gordon Burgett is the author of What
Are You Going to Do With Your Extra 30 Years? (How to Create Your Own
Super Second Life), available from Agemasters at (800) 563-1454.
For further information about the book or the life-planning
process, see http://www.agemasters.com.
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