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| MOUNT TOUBKAL |
Regular
readers of this blog know that I like snappy titles, and my essay title today
represents this affection and needs a quick explanation.
DEFINED
BENEFITS PENSION … a company pension plan
in which an employee’s pension payments are calculated according to length of
service and the salary they earned at the time of retirement.
DEFINED
BENEFITS PENCHANT … the calculated
benefits achieved from strong habitual liking for something.
DEFINED
BENEFITS TENSION … the calculated
benefits gained from mental or emotional strain.
INTO AFRICA
…
I’m going into Africa tomorrow, and will be hiking Mount Toubkal in the Atlas
Range near Morocco. INTO AFRICA is my
clever take on OUT OF AFRICA by Isak
Dinesen, published in 1937, and is considered among the top 100 non-fiction
English books ever written. In 1985 it
was made into a movie of the same name starring Meryl Streep and Robert
Redford.
All this
defined benefit info is crucial to my having the ability of getting into
Africa. And trust me, dear readers; my
argument for such benefits will make sense before dipping my quill into the
inkwell to pen a thousand more words or less.
Around the
corporate water cooler there is always talk of the slow but sure dissolution of
company Defined Benefits Pension programs.
Such modern times, because of cost, are disunion times for defined
benefits pensions. To put it another
way, the traditional government Cadillac pension is everywhere transmogrifying
into a Kia counterpart. And to put it
even another way, the Defined Benefits Pension is fast becoming the darling dinosaur
company savings dollar, one that will never return. But so what …
At my age in
my world, in the here and now a fundamental recurring question in philosophy is,
“Who am I?” Answering candidly and succinctly for myself
at present, I exist only for the reason
all things exist, and that reason is evolution. This notion works for me. Indeed I am promoting the cause and
continuing the species; I have three kids. (And it just so happens that I am meeting the
youngest of my offspring in Marrakech, Africa tomorrow.)
Hmmm … my
offspring define me then? Perhaps this
is true, but not completely. Other significant
variables come into evolutionary play.
Certainly
not meaning to scumble my procreative accomplishments, it also could be that my
WORK, too, defines me. I am a counsellor/therapist;
I am a guitar and didge and portrait busker; seems I am whatever I want to be
in this regard. Saying thus, however, I
am not my job. If I were to measure my
personal and social status by my job, I will most certainly end up in an
emotional jeopardy when I quit or retire.
A rather BIG
definition for who I am is … I am a BABY BOOMER. And, as it happens, being a baby boomer,
means I am performing in the third act of my life. Baby boomers are those of us born betwixt
1946 and 1964 – I was born in 1951.
According to Lawrence R. Samuel (The
New and Improved Third Act of Life, 2017), baby-boomers are those
60-somethings who are going back to school, starting new relationships,
exploring their creativity, and embarking on encore careers. Also, these third-act boomers are still
working, unwilling or unable to accept that their minds and bodies have gotten
older. These kinds of boomers are in
denial, as they desperately cling to their remaining notion of youth.
And so until
infirmity when I quit or retire, what do I want to be when I grow up in Act
III. I must admit that if I do not grow
in my third act performance, I’d consider myself to be just another wrinkled
namby-pamby, two-dimensional character, going for coffee and chuckles with the
former work colleagues a couple times of week.
I know that I
am not my job. I need more than work to
define myself. Perhaps I can turn to PLAY
for my definition. PLAY is where I
continue to cultivate relationships and friendships beyond my work boundaries
To play
means to get happy. To get happy usually
means having a passion for a particular kind of behavior. Even though I’m now in Act III, I believe it
necessary to develop and grow from the first and second acts to exit the stage
with both dignity and passion.
An
aficionado is a person who fervently pursues an interest. By such definition, I am an aficionado in the
regards of guitar and didge and portrait busking especially. Around my ruck of fans and friends, I strive
to be the quintessential sang-froid, Americana busker.
Social
psychologists have tagged baby-boomers as the first ageless generation in Western history. Social psychologists also state that
interpersonal relationships are everything.
And so to have such a hobbyhorse as busking, I am totally immersed in my
Zen-to-go relationships.
I guess I am
one of those baby boomers who will stoop to pretty much anything to avoid being
branded as irrelevant or obsolete. I
guess I am just a baby boomer, in my third act, searching to find meaning and
purpose in my life.
Meanwhile
back at my snappy title explanation:
- DEFINED BENEFITS PENSION
Years ago I
cashed in my defined benefits pension, and the practical benefits being to
experience some international busking, and also being able to monetarily help
my children in their post-secondary academic endeavors.
- DEFINED BENEFITS PENCHANT
Over past
decades I’ve developed not only a penchant for busking, but a serious penchant
for fitness. Physical endurance
(strength and stamina) is the most significant pre-requisite for being a busker.
- DEFINED BENEFITS TENSION
A
psychologist would certainly suggest it could be that my penchant activities
are simply a stalking-horse from my work-a-day woes, an opportunity to perform
on the street stage my designed alterity.
It could be but I doubt it. I
must admit though, escaping to play in this regard does help rid, for those
strumming moments, the tensions of any sturm
und drang brewing in the backdrop of my life.
- INTO AFRICA
When I am
out of Africa I have some immediate plans.
Factoid:
I’ve now got it in my head that I am going to pursuit Street
Hypnotherapy. I’m thinking, for a faux
busker and pseudo-academic such as me, being a street hypnotherapist is the
right way to go. I plan on plying my new
street trances this very summer.
Another factoid:
I am currently writing a book about schizophrenia and hypnotherapy as a
treatment. Once published, I am hoping
to hit the international stage, speaking on what I know about schizophrenia
from an empirical point of view.
I’ll close
this essay with a line from another hypnotherapist, Terrence Watts:
You’ll never know how you could be if
you decide to stay as you are.
Marching in
my CHAUCERIAN PARADE this week:
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| MY BEST SIGNS A TWO-YEAR NHL CONTRACT |
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| BARON, BRUTTO TEMPO BUSKER |
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| HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BARON! |
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