Considerations of being Ancient
Old age, like sexual leanings, ethnicity, possessions, physical attraction, money, and many other considerations, gives people full opportunities for unleashing the venom of their biases. So quite often you hear many, of all ages, say something that is exemplified by the statement, "Old age is a bitch!"
Sometimes, as if a million people are reading my emanations daily, (instead of just the one or two, if that), I feel qualms about appearing to be preoccupied with being old. But when you think about it, there is no more important an issue. Forget Iraq. Forget the coming economic hard times. Forget who is the U.S. President. Forget climate change, nuclear war, the petroleum crunch, terrorism, or world domination. Forget even the common considerations about sex, beauty, money, power, strength, success, prestige, redemption and even family. Forget all those common destinations toward which everyone sees themselves as driving.
Actually there is only one destination toward which every last one of us is hurtling on the Highway of Life, and which, no matter what we expect, will be the main thing we will be thinking about in the final stages, and that is being old. Not death but all the consuming considerations that that state of oblivion waiting just ahead sprays back upon us as we approach it, if we are lucky enough and circumspect enough not to be dispatched before we have time to observe and to think about such things in detail.
So there can be nothing wrong with frequently returning to the subject, since in the end nothing is more important or more eventually relevant to us all. And I am glad that it is a subject that for once I can discuss with every assurance of being something of an authority, even if still a somewhat early one.
And from that standpoint of unimpeachable personal experience, I can say that my investigations suggest that old age is not in any way a "bitch." Instead it's beginning to look, despite the unending succession of aches and pains, much more like a variety of drug high, though not one that you would willingly ingest something to reach.
Sometimes, as if a million people are reading my emanations daily, (instead of just the one or two, if that), I feel qualms about appearing to be preoccupied with being old. But when you think about it, there is no more important an issue. Forget Iraq. Forget the coming economic hard times. Forget who is the U.S. President. Forget climate change, nuclear war, the petroleum crunch, terrorism, or world domination. Forget even the common considerations about sex, beauty, money, power, strength, success, prestige, redemption and even family. Forget all those common destinations toward which everyone sees themselves as driving.
Actually there is only one destination toward which every last one of us is hurtling on the Highway of Life, and which, no matter what we expect, will be the main thing we will be thinking about in the final stages, and that is being old. Not death but all the consuming considerations that that state of oblivion waiting just ahead sprays back upon us as we approach it, if we are lucky enough and circumspect enough not to be dispatched before we have time to observe and to think about such things in detail.
So there can be nothing wrong with frequently returning to the subject, since in the end nothing is more important or more eventually relevant to us all. And I am glad that it is a subject that for once I can discuss with every assurance of being something of an authority, even if still a somewhat early one.
And from that standpoint of unimpeachable personal experience, I can say that my investigations suggest that old age is not in any way a "bitch." Instead it's beginning to look, despite the unending succession of aches and pains, much more like a variety of drug high, though not one that you would willingly ingest something to reach.
posted by Carl (aka Sofarsogoo) | 6:46 AM
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