On Getting Old.......

        When I was younger, I used to shun the idea of getting old. I simply thought that it will be far from happening, since time moves slowly. But after more than three decades of existence, I realized that time has flown past me, without me knowing it as I have been very busy all these years. Oh how time flies! I am not that young anymore. I would tell my students though, that age is just a number. Am I just trying to shield myself from the unforgiving thought that I am on my way there, to getting old?
 

        I am fort two years old,  I told my socio-anthro class. And they could not believe it! Perhaps, short of saying that I look young for that number. I just kidded them of course. Got the trick? Always add more years to your actual age if somebody is curious as to how long you have been existing on earth, to receive the same complement that I got. Hopefully, it will work for you. Try it! But if that person agrees with your bogus age, then dial 911 immediately. 

        Getting old is something that all of us will have to go through. Nobody is exempted from this. No amount of Botox or collagen fillers will spare you from the process we call aging. You can look young for sure, and be able to conceal your age. But you cannot do this in accomplishing forms lest you be charged with falsification of documents! I think the challenge now is how to grow old youthfully.  Is this paradox possible? It is only the corporeal body that ages, and not the psyche! Being young, and feeling young, is a matter of attitude, and not of any numerical value.

Lee Kuan Yew, Oprah Winfrey, and Steve Jobs

        
        Oprah Winfrey made an age-defying claim that fifty is the new thirty. Love it! This simply means that advancement in age translates to more opportunities. The more that we age, the more that the world is opening its doors for us, to lead us to plenty of rooms for enrichment and improvement. How about that huh! People in their fifties and up are the major movers and shakers in society, business, politics, and technology. They are the ones whom we emulate in terms of wisdom, achievement, and character.  They are very influential in other words. Lee Kuan Yew, former Prime Minister of Singapore is already eighty eight years old, but still a very influential statesman in his country. Steve Jobs has redefined our lifestyle with every Apple gadget that he had invented. He may have died young at the age of fifty six, but his innovations will continue to affect people of many generations. May his soul rest in peace.

         Yes, I am getting old. Who isn't anyway? Some little aches here and there, and some white hair that I gingerly pluck from my scalp from time to time. Signs of aging! Gaining some weight too if I may hesitantly add. Plus, some senior moments when I tend to become a little bit forgetful. Oh, and don't forget my glasses! Aging is a permanent fixture in life, just like change and death. Still afraid to get old? You shouldn't be since you are left with no choice to begin with. Instead, embrace every second, minute, hour, and day that will come your way. Thank the Lord for the years that He has given you. We should all thank Him for the gift of life.

"Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength." (Betty Friedan)

"Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter." (Mark Twain)