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Paperwork: Dylan is talking an older tune now, but still puts a song in my heart · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Paperwork. Dylan is talking an older tune now, but still puts a
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  song in my heart. This article is being read by
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  an automated voice, brought to you by Everlit. Bob Dylan, singer, songwriter,
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  poet, philosopher, and some say he is a prophet. There'll be no
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  argument from me. His music spoke to me, sometimes even shouted at
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  me. I was much younger, full of ideas and energy and concern
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  about people in the world, and so was he. Was I idealistic?
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  Oh yeah. I plugged into a world of crazy ideas, like peace
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  over war, everyone should be treated equally, and love conquers all, even
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  hate. Dylan's songs made the best arguments for such things. He asked
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  the right questions like, Where have all the flowers gone? I think
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  that's called idealism. I still keep a little tucked away. However, my
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  idealism now tends to sit in a chair in the corner, rocking
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  and watching, now and then nodding or saying, Uh-huh. Told ya so
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  or relax, old man, take a nap. So now I'm listening to
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  Dylan again. He's not shouting, though. More of a whisper. This time
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  he's looking back, not forward, at age, not youth. Reflections on life,
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  not inspection and rejection and objection. His focus is on getting older,
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  turning eighty. He was among older celebrities asked to comment on that
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  milestone birthday for the New York Times, while acknowledging that President Trump
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  was turning eighty. They were asked about the best and worst part
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  of stepping into the eighties. Dylan, at age 85, shared thoughts that
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  have been repeated across all media. My generation still listens to what
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  he has to say. He didn't say anything shocking. As usual, his
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  words were somewhat poetic. His words, like any decent poem, seemed to
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  resonate with a a message beyond what is being said. It's up
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  to me to figure out that they mean. To me. Here's what
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  Dylan had to say. The best thing about being eighty is that
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  you outlive the clocks that have been chasing you. It's freedom from
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  that lie that anything was ever under control. You don't chase the
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  parade anymore. You're an old king from some vanished country. You're harder
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  to program, you're not rushing to become anything, and you're not haunted
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  by things that you did. You're haunted by how little of it
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  really mattered in The way your thought it would. Then he flipped
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  the coin. The worst thing about being eighty is that you still
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  want to say yes to everything, but the world moves without asking.
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  The old fire in you heart still tells you to do this
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  and that but You body says we already did it. Also, nothing
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  surprises you. It sounds like a luxury, but it's not, and also,
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  you've run out of illusions. People treat you like either you've solved
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  something or you've lost something, and you haven't. You see life repeating
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  itself everywhere. The really worst part about being 80 is that you
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  find at last you've got an understanding of something that might have
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  altered everything in the past. Had it come at a time when
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  something could still be altered. When you're young, you think that time
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  moves forward. At 80, you know that it doesn't. It stands still.
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  We're the ones that move. Some of his words pinch a little,
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  even his best part of turning eighty. So I want to pull
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  over a rocking chair and sit next to my idealism as we
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  read the words out loud and nod together. I don't have to
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  chase the parade anymore, but I do miss the chase. I want
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  to say yes to things that say no, you had your day.
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  Them. Fire in the heart is burning down, needing a burst of
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  oxygen that is harder to muster. Nothing surprises, even the shocking that
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  is no longer shocking. Life is repeating itself. Daily rituals are more
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  comforting because I am still. We’re to do them. Many things used
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  to be so important, But now barely matter. Dylan suggests it's all
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  inevitable. Life is a journey through stages. He sums it up when
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  you're young, you think that time moves forward. At eighty you know
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  that it doesn't, it stands still where the ones that move. I'm
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  not there yet. Age eighty. But I see it coming and what
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  Dylan is saying is real, especially those final words. We're the ones
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  that move. Dylan is still moving his way. I am still moving
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  my way. Both of us still wondering, where have all the flowers
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  gone? Lonnie Kane, retired managing editor of The Times in Ottawa, also
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  was a reporter for the Herald News and Joliet in the 1970s.
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  His paperwork email is LonnieJKane at gmail.com or mail the News Tribune
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  426 2nd Street, LaSalle, Illinois 61301.