Now in the autumn of my life, I recognize that our lives parallel the natural seasons. Having survived the vigor of spring and the intense heat of summer, a certain mellowness sets in. Yet, knowing that the cold silence of winter lies ahead, we make the most of our later years, taking advantage of freedoms that have eluded us since mid spring.
Like the vegetation, we have lost the superficial beauty and shiny veneer of our younger days but rich colors, long hidden by the verdant tide of growth and maturation, begin to show through. At the same time, harvesting the rewards of our working years, we, like all life forms, must prepare for the coming darkness, a threat that, for most of life's calendar, we managed to ignore.
Endowed with a large, complex brain, we recognize these parallels; however, unlike our wild neighbors, we must consciously face the prospect of death. Indeed, our intellect, if freely exercised, unveils our intimate relationship to all other species; we may be its current stewards but we cannot escape the cycle of life that fuels the ecosystems of Planet Earth.
