A Night Out

A bunch of friends and I gathered for dinner Monday night. Was a belated birthday dinner. One of our friends brought along his 20 year old son. Now the rest of us are all in our fifties. We were having a good time, talking, laughing. The young man was rather quiet throughout. Occasionally we chatted. Maybe he's the type you would call "man of few words" or maybe he was just simply plain bored. Whatever, he was a gentleman. Stayed with us throughout the whole night. Did not complain a single bit nor was he busy texting on his phone which would have been rude, of course. In fact I could see him putting effort trying to "get into" the circle of his father's friends. Ha...ha.. Good chap.

One thing about being in the 50s, you can afford to dine at nicer places while youngster have to hang out at mamak stalls where food is cheaper (generally speaking of course). In the 50s you would have owned car(s), house(s), live life a bit more relax, while the youngsters are still out there trying to gather their "wealth", find their identity. The value systems of course drastically differ. The things that occupies our minds and that of the young man just starting out of course is diverse. For us in the 50s, we can say things like "Been there ...done it" while the younger generation are still way behind in terms of experiential knowledge. People like us (50s) should now be taking on the role of a mentor but alas, not all of us are. Look at the politicians in our country and you know what I mean.

Anyway, at one point in the evening, I turned to this youngster sitting on my right and I asked if he noticed the conversation amongst his father's friends. I said, "Once when we gather we talked about computers, movies, work. Now we are talking about kidneys, prostrate, diabetes, cancer, politics, etc" Our young friend just laughed. He was slim and obviously six-packed! I said to him, "Look at all of us. Once we were like you, slim, chocolate stomachs (six pack). This here is your future!" I said that purposefully of course. Ha...ha. You should have seen his expression.

Ok. My point is this. We need to pay attention to what surrounds us. What occupies the minds of youngsters? What occupies the minds of older folks? What occupies the minds of those who are sickly and terminally ill? What occupies the minds of the aged who know their days are numbered? What is their world like? Naturally we all care about ourselves more than we do others. We care about what concerns us more than what's happening to our neighbors. We usually look at life through the lenses of our own eyes and we don't usually see what others see. And so we live in our own worlds and we try to conform others to our own paradigm. It's no wonder we have divisions and strife amongst us.

I like what Paul the apostle said. He said, "To the Jew I became like a Jew ... to the weak I became weak ... I have become all things to all men ..." (1 Cor 9:19-22). ADAPTABILITY! That's my point today ... ADAPTABILITY!

If we are able to adapt, then we can be relevant to others. Being in a piano recital is not my thing but when I adapted and put my heart into it (since I am at it anyway), I could actually enjoy myself and allow myself to be in a different field of experience! So the youngsters think differently than us. If we could adapt to "their level" then we too can have fun with them 'cos we are being relevant. But if we are adamant and think we are better than others, we become irrelevant. If so, how then can we be an influence to them?

I have little problem adapting to different "environments". I mean, if I am at it, might as well be part of it rather than complain and wishing I was somewhere else. Life don't always happen the way we want it. But when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. The key is adaptation.

That night at dinner, we brought in the subject of computers, cars, and something else too that's relevant to the young man. I am sure he too adapted to his father's friends. All in all, we all had a good time. How so? Adaptation. Adaptation is a key to survival. Adaptation makes us relevant. The other twin would be CONTENTMENT! When you put these tow together, man, E=MC2. Have a good day!