I don’t really mind aging, though I must say my body isn’t taking it all that well. I must also admit to occasionally thinking back to a better time. The time when:
- Eating bread was okay, even with real butter slathered on it.
- Eating eggs and red meat was okay too. Cholesterol hadn’t been invented yet.
- Coffee wasn’t a Carthaginian.
- A martini with lunch was classy.
- You didn’t have to pay a premium for jeans with holes in the knees.
- No one knew you could eat kale or bean curd.
- My scales didn’t lie, and that old man didn’t live in my mirror.
- Car keys were never lost or misplaced, they were always in the car ignition.
- Going on a trip didn’t take three days of preparation and planning to be sure that all medications were available in adequate quantities.
- Going into another room didn’t require a note to be sure that the reason for going there wasn’t lost in the trip; and
- Kids could ride in the back of a pickup truck and shoot fireworks.
Ah well, I guess I’ve aged out of all those times. Too bad, but then the alternative of dying young isn’t all that appealing either.
Glad to hear from you Ken.
Yes, it is true, old age may not be a problem even if we often have to compare it with past times.
In an era in which the denial of old age prevails over its acceptance, it is useful, first of all, to distance ourselves from those who make a fool of themselves in an attempt to stay young at any cost, but also from those who get lost in anger for what he no longer has, unable to fully live what he has left. In other words, it is appropriate to experience the process instead of resisting it: art of aging, as opposed to the prevailing anti-aging.
Step by step we must learn to know old age in all its characteristics, to be able to live it with awareness; the re-evaluation of habits, intended as a source of reassurance; attention to pleasure and the ability to enjoy it in all possible forms, also accepting the fact that the same pleasures of the past can now be experienced in different ways, but no less appreciable.
Good comments, Aldo. I like the term the “art of aging”. Rather says it all.
Once again my friend, you have put things in true perspective with a great sense of “20-20” sage vision.
Thanks, Danny. It is sometime hard for us to have “20-20” in 2020. I think keeping a sense of humor helps.
Hello Ken Vincent. Sending you all my best regards 🙂
Thanks, Fatima.