Looking Back

The unexamined life is not worth living – Socrates (470 BC – 399 BC)

It only took a moment back in May of 2009 to pick the title for this blog. It didn’t take a lot of deep thinking. I’d originally intended to write-up some stories about the kids while they were growing up, and a few more about my days on the planet. Obviously the blog would be reflective in nature with a lot of “Looking Back”. As a lifetime runner this title had an amusing subtext that non-runners might not catch.

Back in 1967 the first thing my high school running buddies taught me is that you never, ever, look backwards during a race. Looking back is a sign of weakness. It tells everyone behind you that you are tired and concerned about maintaining your current position. It says you are slowing down and want to gauge how much slower you can run without getting caught by the next guy behind you. Looking back immediately makes you a target for everyone behind you. You suddenly become the weakest zebra in the herd that the lions target for their dinner. That’s what looking back means to a runner.

But back to the topic - I’ve always enjoyed the Socrates quote, “The unexamined life is not worth living”. It focuses on the individual, whereas the George Santayana quote, “Those who cannot learn from History are doomed to repeat it”, has an implied focus on the world. The two quotes are, by their nature, reflective and say the same thing to me, that there are things to be learned by looking back. There are things to be learned not only from your own personal history, but from the history of others and countries as well. Thus I justify recording a little family history here in this blog for my descendants.

So Looking Back is the right title for my blog; Looking Back on the life of my family, Looking Back on my life so far, and Looking Back on my running career. Its a few moments spent reviewing the experiences we all have in common, and perhaps one or two that are just a tad bit different.

But I don’t intend to live my remaining days just Looking Back. There is much to live for. 

I want to:
See what my kids do next
See what my grandkids do next
Ride a train across Canada during the fall leaf season
Ride the Bernina Express train from Chur, Switzerland to Tirano, Italy
Eat at Nikolai’s Roof one more time
See the Northern Lights – aurora borealis
See a NASA launch first-hand
Drive across the Golden Gate Bridge
Drive across Royal Gorge Bridge in Canon City, Colorado
Drive through the Florida Keys
See a glacier
Spend a week at Caribbean beach cottage
Spend a night at the Yellowstone lodge
Attend church service at a cathedral
See the Sistine Chapel
Experience the Fourth of July in Washington, DC
See the US NE
See the US NW
See the US SW
Tour the Louisiana Bayou country
Visit Harry Truman’s birthplace and presidential library
Visit Dwight Eisenhower’s birthplace, and presidential library
Spend a week at Topsail Island during the winter
Learn to do a flip turn in the pool
Swim a mile
Take an aerobics class
Get in incredible shape
Run a marathon
Clean the garage
Clean the attic
Build an enclosed back porch in place of the deck
Take a Windjammer Cruise in the Caribbean
See the Rockies
See the Badlands
See Montana
See Rome, tour the Vatican
Learn to fly
See the Grand Canyon
Tour several of the Smithsonian Museums in DC, Air and Space in particular
See Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome
Catch a sunset from Waterrock Knob in the Great Smoky Mountains
Visit Gilman, Iowa
See Disney World’s Epcot Center, if it still exists
Create a great yard without extensive hired help
Write the world’s greatest blog
Win my age group in an Atlanta Track Club race (Oops, just did that Sept 11, 2010.  Never thought I’d do that again!)

So while Socrates has a point –
The unexamined life is not worth living

I also like the knockoff –
The unlived life is not worth examining.