On turning 60

I turned sixty recently. Our daughters have always teased me about being old, and they did not disappoint this year. Our youngest brought out the word, primordial, as in the primeval ooze of creation, and our eldest went with a more religious theme and selected antediluvian.they described in detail that it was difficult to believe that I was really that age, so they did the math, but that required a larger mainframe computer to handle  a number of that size.

A number of people have referred to sixty as the age of becoming harmless, or even when I donated blood, officially harmless. A ten year old told me not to be too reckless not that I was harmless. Another child told me that old people talk about the old days too much, and they complain too much. I had to merely nod in agreement.

Facing age is of particular import for baby boomers. We revelled in being young. we had slogans, such as don’t trust anyone of over thirty. Even when we became parents, we were determined not to be like our parents, so we have SUVs instead of station wagons. At some point, men go through the agonizing realization that they have become invisible to younger women. At 60, I am visible again, but now I am perceived as a grandfatherly  specter.

We associate age with wisdom. The magic there is experience and reflection.  Otherwise we continue to  go in circles without noticing any benefit or dangers.It seems to me that people face age in character often. Bitter people grow more bitter with the years. Age doesn't seem to cure stupidity on its own.

One of the  issues we face in society is that we do not give nearly the space for those elderly people  who are wise to share their wisdom. Yes, we have some like the SCORE program to mentor fledgling businesses.  If we judge the elderly to be harmless only, we automatically judge their viewpoints as lesser than those of youth.

My father died before I was three. I am the only survivor of our small immediate family circle. I’ve had prostate cancer, so 60 feels like a gift. To help me keep perspective when our girls were growing up, I would remind myself that he never lived to see the chapter turning moments of learning to read, to ride a bike, to drive a car, to graduate.

At the same time, i am mystified by those who romanticize age. I do not physical and mental decline. Even though I walked our hills to get ready for a hiking trip recently, the altitude left me breathless when climbing hills. I  like to participate in trivia contests for fundraisers, and was a lot better at it when I was 45. My image is that my memories are in a file cabinet, but the identifying tabs are gone, so I have to rifle through all of the files to try to capture an answer. My dreams seem to be drifting more into the past. My choir voice is helped by the amazing array of noises I utter when getting out of a chair.

Jesus did not have the opportunity to grow old. The Bible is realistic about age. Ps. 71 is obviously written from the perspective of someone growing into the ranks of the elderly. It speaks of strength being spent. Ecclesiastes does not think that the big answers to big questions ever occurs, but it does commend enjoying things within our purview fully.Death does not hold much fear for me. i do fear the possibility of mental decline and physical pain, but I do realize that help is available for both of those maladies, if they strike.