It is strange and sad that we often tend to view age with jaundiced eyes. Aging is a natural process and should be taken in our stride because it is an irrefutable outcome of biological evolution - birth, growth, decay and ultimately death - and as of now this “progression” remains invincible either by scientific or technological means. But we still crib, fret and fume on every birthday that we are getting older and older day by day. We count the days that we have spent on planet Earth and become wistful thinking next year on this very day we may not be hear to continue with the number game, and so on and so forth. If for once we keep aside these morose thoughts, pull ourselves together and stop drawing parallels between age and senility, degeneration, Alzheimer and the likes, we’ll be perhaps able to view the other side of the story too with a fresher look.
Doesn’t age mean more exposure? More experience? More knowledge? I have seen people being more enterprising in their old age than they were in their youth. Possibly they learnt from their past mistake(s) which again is a point of advantage. We commit mistakes learn from them and move on. Just think if we did not have the option of moving on and had to reverse our gears what would have happened? We would have gone on committing the same mistakes or fallen into the same trap again and again because there would be no scope of a first gear in our vehicles for forward movement.
I have always had fun growing up and gaining age. I am taken more seriously now, increasingly so. My opinion is asked on family matters which opportunity I always missed, regrettably so, when I was young, more so being the youngest of the family. My decision counts. If I say a no, it matters. If I say a yes, that also is heard and given weightage to. Now, when I see the follies of youth I have a quiet laugh to myself and think, “Brother! Wait! Let me ask you the same question ten years hence and see your reaction on the issue…haa...haaa” Or sometimes the imp in me salivates on someone’s (young) foolishness and jeers silently, “You fool! Now see what you have gone and done.” Some may term it as malicious pleasure. To that I’ll say, “Yes. Why not?” Doesn’t youth make mockery of old age? Then we can also do the same with a little bit of private entertainment of ours as well.
Jokes apart, aging is a beautiful process. It is said that we must age gracefully. That needs a lot of cool composure. It takes a lot to accept age and often we falter in that respect. But the treasure trove of innumerable memorable moments that we gather in this journey is just remarkable. The pain and hardship that we go through in the survival of the fittest race strengthen our grit and will to live. Losing and learning is what wisdom is made of. We have the advantage of being nostalgic at times looking back at the bygone best or the worst, it does not matter, because past is past, glorified, and at the same time, shorn off all adjectives like good, bad or ugly.
Another predominant nag of old age is the fear of being left alone, of desertion and ultimate extinction. But who is not alone? Just ask yourself truthfully, have you not felt alone in a crowded room ever? Have you not felt lonely moments off and on even if you are the centre of attraction or surrounded by your near and dear ones? That is because human existence is quintessentially an individualized existence. We enter into a horde of relations and rapports to create an aura of “ a caravan of company” which in itself is a myth. This is not to demean or derogate familial and friendship bonds. But the crave for company is born out of the intrinsic loneliness of human existence. If we embrace the dictum that “we have come alone to this world and we shall exit alone” the brood over desolation will, I feel, be less agonizing.
In short, friends enjoy the now, the present, the doddering age, the halting gait, the myopic sight, the falling teeth, the receding hairline, the wrinkling skin, the arthritic joints, the palpitating hearts (on second thought one must take care of one’s health) and celebrate age and aging in full swing and be happy.
E-N-J-O-Y
