It’s October again, and the earth is aglow.

With a radiance only October can know.

Crimson, yellow and gold covers all of the trees,

And their colors splash wildly with each little breeze.

A thousand gold leaves that pell-mell through the glade,

Are pursued by a breeze that a shadow has made.

All these colorful ships sail a beautiful sea,

Of a sky that’s more blue than skies ever can be.

I’m not sure I can keep both my feet on the ground,

While the whole earth’s in glory with beauty unbound.

My heart rises upward, and soars with a rush

Of unbridled delight, in Octobers full blush.

For Octobers the season of passion for earth,

When Ol’ Mother Nature commits to new birth.

There’s little of shyness in this maidens lure,

(If maiden is proper in reference to her).

She’s wild in her rapture, with fire that will bring,

Mother Nature’s seduction, that promises spring!

Wednesday will be my birthday. I’m celebrating 93 years. My doctor says only 3% of the population gets as old as I am. I don’t know what has given me so long a life, but my opinion would be to keep yourself as free from negative thoughts of any kind, as you can. Negativity of any kind eats away at your mental balance, and physical good health. Your negativity doesn’t affect at all the cause of whatever, or whoever you may be unhappy with. It affects mostly you.

Your life depends upon your acceptance of it, and its conditions. One’s attitude and appreciation of life is very important. I think a lot of good people die simply because they think it’s their time. They don’t seem to have the desire to go on. Writing these articles for the paper is a duty I feel strongly. It gives me a place in society that I must fill, a reason to keep going. If a person has no reason to go on, why will they?

When one reaches old age, life may not be the way it has been, but that doesn’t mean it is worthless. In my day I was the Manager of Engineering at Channel 2 in Buffalo. I had about 30 technical people under me who kept the whole affair going. It was interesting, challenging work, and I enjoyed it.

I was there for about 36 years. I worked my way up from a tech who replaced whoever was on vacation, to a studio camera man, to supervisor of keeping everything working, to my last 11 years as the manager of engineering at the TV station, and the companies two radio stations, WGR AM and WGRQ FM. I retired at 62 in 1989, but have not tried to keep up with the electronics of it at all. The engineering staff is much smaller today.

I guess the moral of my story is that life can be beautiful, if you answer the call of what you are searching for, but don’t expect to find it under your pillow in the morning.

You have got to earn it, whether you want to or not. Nothing in this world worth having is free. If it is something that nobody else wants, or you steal it, you can get it. But neither of those options will get you what you want for long. The third option is if your parents are millionaires. That option may not bring you the happiness you expect. The simple truth is, you’ve got to do the best you can, with what you have, and be happy to be yourself, whatever that means.

May God bless America.

Richard Westlund is a Collins resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com