Since this is my birthday month, I want to post something by Steve Goodier-one of my favorite bloggers.
The Gifts of Age ~ Steve Goodier ~
I love young people. I feel the
same way as Archbishop Desmond Tutu who once said, "I have the highest
regard for young people. Young people are idealistic. They dream dreams about a
better world."
They not only dream dreams, they have
the audacity to believe in those dreams and often enough enthusiasm to nurture
them into something close to real life.
I love young people. What fun I could
have "back in the day" – ridiculous fun. And what hope. I was
changing so quickly and it seemed I could be limited only by my dreams. If I
believed it might be possible, I felt I could make it so.
There are tremendous gifts that come
with youth. Like optimism and the ability to change. When anything seems
possible, more than a little of it becomes possible if one only believes enough
and adapts quickly.
And then we age. Please don’t hear a
note of discouragement – it’s just that aging is something I am only slowly
coming to embrace. It creeps up on a person like silent fog in the night; we
awaken one morning in the midst of it and wonder how it got there.
We age, whether we choose to or not.
And some people dread it. Singer Doris Day once said, "The really
frightening thing about middle age is that you know you'll grow out of
it." That fear can be all too real.
Some people dread aging. And some
people deny it. They try to avoid the fact that they are growing older and
their bodies are in decline. One woman who had ignored her failing eyesight for
too long was asked, "How long have you worn glasses?"
"Since yesterday," she
replied. "As I was baking some tollhouse cookies I picked up the fly
swatter and killed four chocolate chips."
Some people deny aging and live
as if nothing has changed. And some people avoid it – or try to. They idealize
youth and never become comfortable in their older, looser‑fitting skin. One man
quipped: "A few years ago my wife started to wear tight jeans. I went out
and bought a convertible. Then she bleached her hair. I took a lot of multiple
vitamin shots. Just a few months ago, she had a face lift and a "tummy
tuck." I got an implant. And that's the way it’s been for the two of us:
side by side ‑‑ growing young together."
Since age can’t really be avoided,
there are those, also, who learn to laugh at it. Humor won’t chase old age
away, but laughter certainly makes it more bearable.
A parody of the musical hit "My
Favorite Things" is making the rounds among oldsters. The song,
inaccurately attributed to Julie Andrews, reminds us that it helps to laugh at
what we can’t change.
"Maalox and nose drops and
needles for knitting,
Walkers and handrails and new dental fittings,
Bundles of magazines tied up in
string;
These are a few
of my favorite things"
You get the idea.
We may try to deny it or avoid it. We
may dread it or learn to laugh at it. But unless an accident or illness robs us
of the chance to grow old, we’ll all experience it.
Which is okay. For if youth has its
gifts, I believe age does, too. When aged well, the idealism of youth is
tempered now with solid experience. Youth’s enthusiasm is made more valuable
when combined in old age with good judgment. And youth’s ability to become
anything they can imagine, in old age takes the form of character; trustworthy
and reliable – character so rich only decades of living could ever grow and
refine it.
These are the gifts of age. They are
gifts found in those who live their lives intentionally and well. They take a
lifetime to acquire and they are precious beyond belief.
