[By Merlin Lessler]<\/p>\n
I write to laugh at today\u2019s world and at my ineptness to adapt to it. Sometimes I get off track and get stuck on grievance, again and again, but eventually that helps me accept it. <\/span><\/p>\n I kept getting stuck on how hard it is to open things sealed in plastic or bottles with tops that are too small to grip. I\u2019ve aired those complaints so often that the issue has become an amusement. When I\u2019m confronted with it, I laugh out loud as I struggle to open something. <\/span><\/p>\n I also write with a \u201cPass-the-Wisdom-along\u201d theme, attempting to give people headed toward old age a glimpse of the issues they will face and a roadmap to help them prepare for the inevitable. And to learn to laugh at themselves rather than fret over it on the steps along the old age path. <\/span><\/p>\n The old-age journey is much easier in Japan, where the elderly are respected, even revered. The journey is different here in our youth-oriented society. Old coots are either invisible to young people or a joke. We learn to laugh at ourselves along with them, knowing their day will come. If you laugh at life in general and at old age in particular, the journey in all its absurdity is a more pleasant way to travel. <\/span><\/p>\n