[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’In defense of old age’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY HERBERT VEGO
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=’custom’ color=’#0a0a0a’]
Thursday, February 23, 2017
[/av_textblock]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=’custom’ color=’#0a0a0a’]
OVER coffee at Hotel del Rio, Panay News founder Danny Fajardo and I would often exchange views about degenerative diseases, including loss of memory, which we senior citizens are prone to. I would often entreat him not to worry; as practicing journalists, we have the option of non-retirement, thus keeping our brain engaged for life. Lord, we pray, save us from Mr. Alzheimer.
But of course, it is a “given” that as man rises in age, his vitality falls. Take it from the Bible: “Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10).
Whether young or old, dust we all are and to dust we shall return. There could be no adventure without traversing the path from womb to tomb. In fact, the young ones beg of us young once to tell them what adventures we have lived through.
Old people need not be discarded. Old but healthy men reflect deathless character and pricelessness – just like the old masters’ paintings, diamonds, old silverware, old furniture, old coins, old books, aged wine and vintage cars. Greece and Egypt thrive because of tourists who flock to see the ruins of past civilizations.
We don’t always lament the loss of a new thing; we cry over the breakage of an antique plate or jug.
Greek philosophers Plato, Aristotle and Socrates were unanimous in believing that old age and new knowledge could go together. Socrates (469-399 BC) kept himself busy and could have lived longer had he not been poisoned at age 70. Plato (428-347 BC) never stopped learning and imparting philosophy till he passed away at age 80. Aristotle (384-322 BC) taught his students that “learning is an activity in which we can engage as fully in old age as when we are young.” Unfortunately, he met his unexpected end at 63 due to stomach ailment.
It surprised me to learn that “old” is an old word with a “young” undertone, derived from an Indo-European root that means “to nourish.” No wonder, when we ask a child for his age, we ask, “How old are you?” Then he answers, “I am three years old.”
Unfortunately, when compared to “new,” “fresh” and “young,” the “old” narrows its meaning to “stale,” “worn” and “dying.”
It is often only in old age that we cherish the memories of our youth. We love to look at our old pictures and share with the young the memories of the “good old days.” How we regret not having preserved most of our old photographs!
After reading a book on Benjamin Franklin – whose picture appears on all US $100 bill bills – it surprised me that he was already 81 in 1787 when elected to the Constitutional Convention that would frame the Constitution of the newly-created United States of America.
That means I still have 14 long years to catch up with Franklin. His biography buoyed my spirit because, to reiterate, I can still write for a living despite occasional memory lapses.
Time could be destructive, but it could toughen us as well. Expertise in a vocation or profession requires time. The old are called “old” not only because of withering age but because of the legacy they have bequeathed to modern times.
The people who fear old age are the people who think of it as gateway to the graveyard. If truth be told, however, death does not choose between the old and the young.
I have forgotten the author, but I cannot forget this quotation: “It’s not the years in our life but the life in our years that count.”/PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
