What Will You Do At 92?

Last week on the CBS Evening News, Steve Hartman profiled Nola Ochs as part of his Friday Assignment America segment. Nola Ochs is mother, grandmother, great grandmother and as of last Saturday the oldest person to finish college. She is 92 years young.

I felt inspired by Hartman's story of Ms. Ochs. It seems that Ms. Ochs started taking correspondence courses back in 1972 after her husband died. This past year she decided to kick her studies into high gear and finish up her degree so she decided to mosey on up to Fort Hays State University grab a dorm room and finish what she started so long ago. What makes this story even cooler, is she would finish up and graduate with her granddaughter Alexandra.

To read the story and watch the video of last week's segment, click here.

What do you plan to be doing at 92?

In a time when people work to quit working, Ms. Ochs stands as a definite example that life and learning certainly doesn't end when the retirement party is thrown and your desk is taken by someone else. No, in fact I believe that very possibly that just might be when life actually begins.

How many of us fixate on retirement and the day we don't have to go to work anymore? How many of us have visions of playing with the grandkids and piddling in the yard? Though I submit those are all very worthwhile ways to spend your time I suspect that achieving more, learning more and being more might just be as rewarding....if not perhaps slightly more rewarding.

Rather than looking at being 36 and over a 1/3 of my life being over, I think it might be more appropriate to wonder what I will be learning, who I will be advising and just how inspiring my actions might be in 56 years. What about you?

Thank you Ms. Ochs for inspiring me and creating a Ripple in Austin, Texas. I hope our paths cross at some point in the future though I understand you may be busy. Ms. Ochs starts course in July to begin working towards her masters degree.

Ripple On!!!

Steve Harper