It’s never too late for the University of the Third Age

THERE is a temptation to write oneself out of the script, especially when certain milestones in life are passed. If one hears oneself saying, “that’s beyond me now,” one should look out.

With age comes realism as the ticking clock forces us to be selective about what we will invest ourselves in as the finite resource that is life becomes more precious with every tick and tock. It is important to be selective, but it is equally important not to put a blanket ban on new things and new experiences. Most importantly, later age could be a time of opportunity, for dusting down old dreams and giving them new life, now that pressure in other areas has all but dissipated.

I was at a funeral during the week. The deceased was a primary teacher and principal who retired over 30 years ago. A man committed to his family, his profession and his locality, he was a history buff, a lover of hurling and a life-long learner.

He imparted a love of history to generations of his pupils. His history slideshows on a Friday afternoon whetted the appetite of many a young mind for all things historic and historical.

When it came to hurling, his generosity knew no bounds. At the funeral the congregation was told that he was the only man on the planet that could fit an entire hurling team into a Ford Anglia.

Every summer he spent days on end beavering through the archives and libraries of Dublin and London gathering material for his books, articles and papers, work that contributed hugely to the body of local history.

At 72, he went back to college, completing a master’s in history. His passion for his subject outstripped his age and he went for it. He didn’t write himself out of the script.

At the moment I’m giving a friend a hand to write his biography. Born just before the Second World War, he was one of 12 children reared on a stony farm in the southeast. Cursed with ill health, he had to leave secondary school without completing his Group Cert. This didn’t impede his curious and inquisitive mind and having served his time as a fitter, his ability shone through. Before long, he made a name for himself as a man of ideas and found himself in research and development and took to it like a child let loose in a sweetshop.

In the early 70s, he took a huge risk when he left a permanent job to start an engineering firm with three of his brothers. Over the next four decades, they built a highly successful ‘ecosystem’ of engineering enterprises.

The group of internationally trading manufacturing companies employs up to 1,000 people and competes with the best engineering component manufacturers in the world.

I spoke to him last week about completing his biography, but he told me I’d have to wait — at 82 years of age, he is starting another new company with the younger members of the family. The energy and excitement of the man is to be experienced to be believed. Thankfully, he didn’t write himself out of the script.

In France, there is a university called L’Universitè de la Troisieme Age — the University of the Third Age, or U3A. The university has no buildings or institutions but is a movement of people that encourag- es and fosters lifelong learning in all fields and at all ages, especially in older age. Using the facilities they find around them, these people explore and study the things they are passionate about. Away from the tired and cobwebbed halls of academia, these learners blossom as they embrace the third age.

The University of the Third Age proves that eureka moments are not the preserve of the young, there can be an awakening at any age. Ironically, as one gets older, it can be easier to make the most of these eureka moments, since fear of failure diminishes with time — anyone who has lived even half a life has seen enough failure to make them almost contemptuous of it.

My friend, the man starting yet another business at 82 years of age, is a great believer in ‘taking the opportunity during