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50 is when men retire from a life of adventure
Being an aging man of action over 50 is paradoxical. First, 50's old. 40's old, even. 50's ancient. That said, once in, you're never really ever out. While the U.S. Army, for example, has raised the mandatory retirement age for active-duty soldiers to age 62, from age 55, the service has always been an up-or-out organization. Not that I'm a soldier—nor have I ever been one. But, as long as you have your wits about you, can keep a secret, have neither betrayed nor broken trust, and can be useful, you're never quite off the table. As long as you're useful. I don't know if I am useful. If I were useful, I would surely know by now. Waiting for Godot. Keeping busy. Hurry up and wait. My dad used to tell me one of the credos he remembered from Parris Island: "Don't run if you can walk. Don't walk if you can stand. Don't stand if you can sit." And, I think he added, "Don't sit if you can lie down, and don't stay awake if you can sleep." While this is some of the best of advice I have ever received (except for when he taught me to punch with my elbows and, when I fell, to always tuck and roll), it really only benefits someone who is going through Bootcamp or the extreme duress of military deployment or if you're burning your candle at both ends. If you're not constantly being required to hump it double-time, with a full ruck, in the dust, and under a hot sun, then that advice will just get you fat, make you weak, and it'll put you at the very edge of ruin. Sometimes, in the sedentary world of modern, Western, urban, college-educated, men, Lou Holtz's quote should surely be inverted to be "Don't sit if you can stand. Don't stand if you can walk. Don't walk if you can run."