| Aging Gracefully |  |
By David Leonhardt
"Well, Happy Birthday! How old are you anyway?"
"Oh, I'm just 29 . again."
It's a harmless game, denying our age, right? We play sensitive
about our age as we get older, as we get further away from birth
and closer to death. It's just a way to share our unease of
growing older with people around us.
Try as we might, time marches on and we get older just as fast as
our ancestors did. I was reminded about this when I read that we
are now seven million years old. That's at least a million years
older than we were just one year ago.
Of course, that does not mean you or I personally aged a million
years in the past 365 days. That would be either a horror movie
or the work of a genius. An early human skull found in the
Sahara Desert is 7 million years old, pushing "the start of human
evolution back at least another million years."
For you and me, age is important. Denying one's age, or even
being sensitive about it, can be a very disabling experience.
Our years, our lines, our scars are part of who we are. They
should be a matter of comfort and pride. Happiness eludes us
when we feel embarrassed, guilty, or shy about who we are.
It's time for each of us to take pride again in everything we
are. Try saying something like this: "I am pushing 40 (or
whatever age applies to you). I have lived 40 years. I have
survived 40 years. I have experienced 40 years. I have learned
from 40 years. (I have much more to learn, so God, please let me
live another 40!) I have thrived, mostly, during 40 years. And
I am proud of every one of those years."
Once upon a time, the elders of the village were revered. They
bore both knowledge and wisdom. Now we settle for just
knowledge. The elders carried traditions down from generations.
Now we just create brand new "traditions". The elders were our
leaders. Now we downsize them.
Youth has its own beauty, its own advantages, its own reasons to
be admired. So, too, does middle age. In fact, every age is
important and every age is beautiful. How old are you right now?
(Really, I don't mean "29 again".) Whatever age you are, right
now that is the perfect age -- and the perfect age to be proud
of.
Oh sure, it is sort of harmless to kid about one's age. And many
people joke about it harmlessly. But many of us also have a deep
unease about our age and our aging -- an unease that can hold
back our self-esteem.
I recall sitting in my pew when it suddenly dawned on me why one
member of the all-female choir looked so different. Every lady
was at least 40 years old, but the other heads were jet black or
honey brown or sandy blonde or some other artificial tint. White
Top Lady packed a loaded bundle of white hair.
It is not a sin to dye one's hair, as long as we don't do it
during the service. It is just one of many ways we adorn
ourselves. But the sight of a dozen elderly ladies with hair
colors impossible for their age made me want to laugh out loud
right there in church. (I resisted.) All the heads would
probably have looked normal if White Top Lady's hair had not been
screaming out, "I'm proud of my color. I'm proud of my age. I'm
not going to hide."
It's time to be proud of everything about ourselves, including
our age. So to everybody reading this, "Happy Seven Millionth!"
ABOUT THE AUTHOR FOR PLAIN TEXT NEWSLETTERS
David Leonhardt publishes The Happy Guy humor column. Read more humor
articles or articles on personal growth and self-actualization. Get liquid vitamins at The Liquid Vitamin Supplements Store.
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