Dear Brothers and Sisters,

When are you old? Probably you are thinking about age – 60, 70, 80…

“Old” means you retire, don’t want to be involved much with life, not active in anything, slow and weak, and very much waiting to go back to your ancestors.

But, think about the woman who got a bachelor degree at 74, the man who finished the drawing class at 80, or Zen master Joshu who began learning Zen at 60 until 80 when he realized Zen, and taught Zen till 120.

Young or old is a matter of the heart. If you think young and act young, you are young; if you think old and act old, you are old. It is not a matter of your age. People say, “Young at heart” (or “Old at heart”).

Many people go through life like zombie. They are beyond old – they are dead going through life.

If you live your life without caring and focusing on anything in life, going through daily motions without being conscious of anything you do or don’t do, you are a zombie, long past old age, even if you are only 25.

You are young the day you still live with a purpose – teaching your grand children something, drawing a beautiful painting, finishing reading a long book, writing an article for your blog, visiting patients in a hospital, joining a demonstration against corruption in the government…

We all need to live every day as if we never die. Dying is something you don’t have to spend much time on, because it will come whether you think about it or not. But every day we live is one day we can do something constructive for the world and be a good living example for people in later generations to learn from.

That is living positively.

Wish we all live positively.

With compassion,

Hoanh

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Trần Đình Hoành
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