not getting any younger

A while back I was at table with some friends of mine, licking my plate of the remnants of a scrumptious homemade meal. Light, laughter and contented banter were the order of the evening. All of a once the Chinese foreign exchange student present, whom we shall call “K”, remarked to the lady of the house that some girl with whom he’d done something or other wasn’t old like her. Everyone got shocked and “oooohed” ominously and made little comments like, “watch it, buddy”. All in good fun, right?

“K” was ineffectively trying to back pedal and although I knew that when I stick my foot in the fray it generally ends up in my mouth I decided to come to his rescue. In a loud voice I interjected, “Well, you’ve got to understand that ‘K’ comes from a culture where age is venerated.” The laughter stopped and it was generally agreed upon that I’d made a good save and wasn’t that clever?

I was still bothered. It disturbed me to think that as good-natured as the whole thing was, the group was so lightning-quick to jump on “K” for his comment. We were a bunch of thinking, ostensibly-educated people who instinctively reacted in attack mode against a culturally uninformed person. What was he uninformed about? That here in Canada we view aging differently than the Chinese. We loathe it, fear it, distance ourselves from it (Lock them in homes! Quickly!), and spend a fortune on carcinogenic creams in an effort to stave off its effects. We do this, I think, because aging precedes death, which terrifies us.

Do we really believe that by all this we are somehow dodging the old death angel? What a joke! We can walk against the escalator if we want, but it will just speed up to compensate. In the end, the ride will be over and we will have spent a whole lot of it panting and looking backwards. The only one fooled will be us.

It’s time to learn something from the Chinese, young culture that they are: Aging is natural. Old people are a treasure, filled with stories that - were we to listen to them - might save us a war or two. Sure, they can be crotchety and shoot rock salt at us when we try to steal their apples – but that’s half the fun! My challenge to you is this – take care of your body but accept your age. Value the elderly and teach younger people to do the same or you know what? Someday they’ll lock you away – and you’ll deserve it!