I think old Will had some darker days. At least he had an appreciation for the depressive view of life, “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace till the last syllable of recorded time. And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. . . Life’s but a walking shadow, a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing.” (Macbeth) That’s not exactly uplifting, but it did provide writers with some good book titles.
Touchstone has some good lines too: “The more pity that fools may not speak wisely what wise men do foolishly.” But I wish that Will had him address each of Jacques’s cynicisms about the stages of man. For each of the negatives can be countered by love. The mewling puking child is made beautiful and adoring through love. The whining schoolboy was made to care for school through a teacher’s care. The lover’s sighs are requited, and the soldier’s quick temper cooled. Listening with love to the old saws of the round-bellied justice, and the man-child voice of the shrunken pantaloon, and even the toothless near oblivion second child improves their stage of life and the listener too. But Touchstone is mum on such sentiments, so the seven stages of man stand as written.
Today
Younger friends now greet me holding my handshake with two hands, offering big smiles and riveting eye contact saying “How are you?”. People my age and younger tell me to stop calling myself old or making jokes about being “still vertical,” or “one step ahead of the Reaper.” I figure I’ve got some time left, but know that is not guaranteed. I do know that pondering the ages of man and where I fit is amusing, but even less valuable than reflecting on my life so far. Reflecting on history is only well spent as a driver of improvement, and change takes action.
I don’t even mind if people think I’m so over the hill they need to say something that implies I look better than they expect for someone my age. Sometimes I repeat the Jerry Seinfeld joke, “The three ages of man: youth, middle age, and “you look good!”
