Keep your old necktop hard disk spinning

Don’t become a grumpy old man!

I learned today about a gentleman in the USA called Dr Howard Tucker who has just turned 100. He is still working and he fully intends to continue to do so. Having practised medicine as a neurologist for 75 years, Dr Tucker claims to be the world’s oldest practising doctor.

So what is his secret? Strangely enough there is nothing new in his advice which is simply:-

1. Don’t retire – but if you really feel you must retire then at least have a hobby that exercises your brain on a daily basis.
2. Keep learning – never be content with what you already know, you can always learn more and, of course, doing so will help to keep your old necktop hard disk spinning.
3. Cultivate happiness – this seems to be hard for many when it really is so very easy. Ageing seems to push us in the opposite direction sometimes but, at the very least, we should try to be happy and to generate happiness for those around us. Someone suggested to me not so long ago that we should all – and I mean all – smile at the first 10 people we see every day. I have tried it and it works although I admit that, some days, I get some very strange looks in return but persistence certainly pays in my view.

As I say, there’s nothing new in Dr Tucker’s advice and, of course, one swallow doesn’t make a summer but, until someone comes up with some better advice that has been proven to work, I’ll certainly give it a all try. I have several friends and relations that, to my surprise, have become grumpy old men. These are people whose company I used to enjoy but who, I am ashamed to admit, I no longer look forward to meeting. Do I want to be like them? Of course not and I feel it is my duty as a citizen of the world to try to coax them back into being a meaningful member of society once again.

After all, it is such great fun to be alive, isn’t it?

Photo: Austin Tucker for “What’s Next?”