What’s wrong with being backward and happy?

One day, I’m going to be 60 years of age. Granted, that’s a long way off … but it’s coming. (And, when it does, I’m certain I’ll still be watching my beloved CBS Sunday Morning.)

Throughout my life, I’ve never (yes, I used “never”) wanted to be any older than I was at the time. I didn’t want to be a teenager when I was a youth, I didn’t wish for 21 when I was a teen, I didn’t voice my desire to turn the age of adulthood when I was much younger than I am now. (Not so interestingly, lots of folks accuse me of still being a kid. And I really don’t see a problem with that.)

But there is one thing I’ve continually said as the years have passed: I want to be spry when I’m an old man. And not spry in the manner of leaping out of a porch patio chair swinging my cane above my head threateningly, yelling at those damned kids to get off my lawn.

I want to be the kind of spry that spurs me to action. I want to be the kind of spry which makes people smile. I hope I can infuse others with joy and smiles and goodwill. (On this matter, I know for a fact I can do this — I’ve done it time and again.) I want the kind of spry that infects 60 year-old Cedric Givens.

Givens has got it goin’ on. He’s spry to the nth degree. He’s loud and boisterous and outgoing. There’s no denying the dude’s got pep in his step. And he’s got a positive outlook on life that’s contagious. He’s filled with the kind of contagion I tend to gravitate toward. And why not?

I’ve believed for the longest time you have to look at the positive side of situations. (I don’t always practice that mode of thinking because I’m flawed and human. But I do my best to subscribe to it when I can.) I love his attitude and his energy and his enthusiasm.

The reality of the situation is that it’s a hard knock life. The difference is how you’re going to respond to the knocks.

I’ll take Givens’ outlook, thank you very much.