“Senior Discount Wednesday (55 Years & Older)—10% Off All Purchases!”
The sign at the grocery check-out counter elicited a smile that grew into a muffled laugh which the cashier tactfully ignored. Dealing with the public had taught her that if you don’t engage the crazies they will eventually go away!
The sign caught me off guard. I was unconsciously making a mental note to shop on Wednesday, before my auto-pilot defense kicked in. You see, I cursed out loud the day the first ‘unsolicited’ issue of the AARP magazine arrived at my house. Why are they sending me this magazine? There are no retirees or seniors at my house! The thing that prompted me to laugh was the reluctant admission that I was now, well ‘qualified’ for the Wednesday senior discount.
This post-card from the island of reality prompted a bit of reflection and life assessment on my part. On the drive home I started running my mind across a question—what does a man want from life? I drifted back to a discussion that I had with my son a number of years ago. I was attempting to describe a man’s path through life and to the destination of fulfillment.
A man’s life consist of concentric circles. In the second circle is found self. The third circle is family. The fourth circle contains a life companion—a man’s wife. The fifth circle consists of community. The sixth is the circle of country. The seventh circle is limitless, having no observable border and can only be labeled by the man himself. You will note that I also did not label the first circle. Our discussion today centers upon what a man wants from life—these two unlabeled circles deal with what a man needs. This is a discussion for another day.
A man wants to find purpose in life.
Each life circle is either a classroom containing the door to the next life level or a windowless prison cell defining the size of a man’s world and horizon. An infant is born with the desire and drive to satisfy self. A man’s first life altering realization is that he was born to do more than feed his wants and impulses. When the boy stumbles upon the reality that giving has a provision that getting will never contain—he is at the doorway of manhood.
It is normally within the context of family, amid those that have demonstrated and responded to love, that purpose has its first halting steps. It is within the family that we begin to see the ‘accident’ of birth forming lifelong tools. The oldest child is blessed with the role and benefit of responsibility; the middle child masters diplomacy and empathy; the youngest child’s creativity and adventure blooms under the brightness of unconditional love. It is within the family that the man discovers that he is uniquely made and equipped.
What Does A Man Want?
Charles Hilson