Yesterday I bought a book entitled, “Too Young to be Old.” It has good ideas for exercise and diet. And indeed, some young people are faced with conditions that make them feel old before their time. And if they can do something about that, great! But I got to thinking that I am too old to feel young. And that is as it should be. As life stages go, being young is for the young…unless you are Peter Pan or one of his clones. “I don’t want to grow up.” But if I write a book entitled, “Too Old to Feel Young,” how popular would that be? I think I would like to write it anyway.
The real problem lies, it seems to me, in how we view youth and age. Being old is not such a bad thing though our stereotypes of it are. Now that I am old, I know that I do not feel or act the way old people are supposed to…whatever that is, (and the images in my mind are not pretty.) I don’t feel young. I do feel alive and glad to be living each day and working as long as I can. And loving a kind of love that feels like forever love.
Take faith for instance. I confess that my once bubbly, unquestioning religious perspective and faith is gone. My faith has had to come to terms with life and unending challenges both from within and without. I miss the simplicity that I had to leave behind to appreciate the depth and complexity that is still emerging. I would love to end up with an elegant mature simplicity but I am not there yet. I confess to a somewhat contained cynicism about life. And yet, I remain an optimist, I think, and optimist with wide open eyes. (Though I am sure I have blind spots.)
There is a way to embrace all that I loved about being young and love in new generations, without worshiping youthfulness. Let’s celebrate age diversity and give each life stage its due.
Th downside of being old is that one is closer to death if life is as it should be. So, yes, there’s a major challenge of our last life stages. Leading the way into the unknown. But before that, if one embraces life fully, continuing to confront the many mysteries, realities, and histories that lie on life’s continuum, we can embrace the known.
These are unfinished thoughts. Much to contemplate. For now, I salute Barbara Walters who is old and alive without being youthful. She is a bit timeless, but that is different.