RAINER'S RAMBLINGS
Health, old age, etc.
By RAINER ARNOLD Union Sentinel Publisher

As I get older I think about my health and getting older a little more than when I was younger. If I express these concerns to others, the standard reply is that age is in your head. "It's all in your head" people say. Well, I guess I agree with that, even though when I get up in the morning and my back hurts that is NOT in my head. I could tell myself it's in my head, but the pain would still be there.

When I play soccer with the high school kids my legs hurt and my back hurts for at least a day or two. That, also, is not just in my head. When I wake up in the middle of the night with leg cramps that also is not just in my head. Cramps really hurt.

So, I was thinking about all this the other day and came to one conclusion. It is not just in my head, this thing about getting older. But, I need to take a different perspective on it. A perspective that says that I am a very lucky person to be healthy, well, relatively healthy, and still able to play sports at 62. After all, there are people who can't do that anymore and so I am pretty fortunate. The pain just lets me know that I am getting older and I can not do what I used to do.

Then I think about the people whose health is not as good as mine and they still have a great attitude and go about their daily life as if nothing is wrong. They are pretty strong. And that is the biggest point I am trying to make. The strength that people have who are not healthy and at times not even old. And they keep on going. I know some people that are not healthy and you would not know it. They do not tell you and they do not complain. They have a positive outlook on life and they are an asset to their community.

These people are strong. Physically and mentally. They ought to be an inspiration to us all. But, they won't tell us about their disabilities and so we do not know about them. But I am certain if you talk to people you know in detail, you will actually find some of these really strong people with disabilities that would actually surprise you.

So, to all those people who have health issues out there, I salute you for dealing with them in a better way than I probably would. I just complain about my little aches and pains. Can you image what I might say if I was really sick??