AGE AND MILEAGE

Some people love to argue that age is just a mind set, while others will point out that it isn’t the “age” but the “mileage”.  I personally believe that regardless of your take on the subject, a misspent youth will make it feel like you’re a hundred years old, even if you are much younger. Every broken bone as a youngster and every moment thinking I would live forever, haunts me now as I get older.  Never for the timid, surviving to be the “wise” man of the tribe brings a new perspective to all of the things I once did as a young man.  One of the points of the first book is how we have to mesh the old with the new, and how the experienced “older generation” is forced to teach the inexperienced in a hurry.  Throughout history there are numerous instances where this took place as a factor of necessity, and it always amazes me how a very serious crisis will force people to either act beyond their years, or to dredge up that old “muscle memory” to continue the mission. I tried to capture some of this feeling, and to make the experience as realistic as possible, throughout my book.  If history is a good teacher, then I know most certainly that any conflict requires that younger people step up into responsibilities well beyond their years, and most of the time, they will have to do it well before either they or the system really thinks they are ready.  At the same time, the old guys, with a wealth of experience and a “pot gut”, are going to have to step up their game to share what they know, and to get that muscle memory back in a serious hurry.  ~ Michael S. Pauley