School Is Best For Us Old Farts

I'm having such a good time in school this semester! In Literature, we just finished the outrageously nasty Lysistrata, a play I would NEVER consider attending, but one I thoroughly enjoyed in spite of my Southern Baptist upbringing. What a hoot! Here's the odd thing...I think that at 20 or even 25, I would not have seen the full range of humor in the story. But at forty-something ("five" at the moment), I can laugh at the youngsters, relate to the oldsters, and giggle at all the recognizable traits of the midsters, and enjoy it all. In other words, I'm beginning to think that

school is best for us old farts

In Geography, we are in Russia at the moment, discussing, debating, comparing, and contrasting the social welfare systems found in Europe, the Russian Federation, and the United States. We travel the world one night a week, learning and exploring people and places we will never get to see. As a group, we've traveled no further than the classroom, but as a collective of individual experiences, we've explored a wonderful portion of the globe. What a fun group we are, young and old alike. I also spend one night a week learning about accounting practices in corporations. Our instructor holds degrees in law and accounting and is quite a story-teller himself. While I struggled with Accounting I, I am having a blast in Accounting II. [Note: I may not make an "A" in this class, but I'm still giving it my all!] While the ledger entries are something I'll never use, the details of the purchase of treasury stock by corporations is fascinating. Why didn't I already know this stuff? I am most often asked about continuing to attend classes at my age by people my age. "Why would you torture yourself so?", they all want to know. How I wish I could convince more of them to open their eyes and minds to the excitement of learning something so very new, or breathing new ideas into topics well worn. What a blast I'm having! To steal a phrase from one of my old employers, Dow Chemical, what being in school means to me is this:

Living. Improved daily.