For whatever reason, my computer has been bombarded recently with jokes and cartoons about old people. You’ve all seen them- the focus is always about the failings and stupidity of older people. Not a great deal of originality in the subject matter.
Undoubtedly it’s not much fun when your joints hurt and you can’t find the car keys but getting older, like most things in life, has its positives and negatives. The negatives have been done to death, so I’d like you to think about a few of the positives for a minute –
* We’ve had 50 or more years to gain some valuable experience of life. We’ve been through some highs and lows. We’ve seen fortunes made and lost. We’ve seen people do some wonderful things and others behave horribly. We’ve had the opportunity to acquire some wisdom. The wrinkles are the price of experiencing life.
* We’ve met thousands of people and hopefully we can call a small number “real friends”. We have seen these friends through good times and bad and we know that we can depend on them when we’re suffering. That’s a little more comforting than having hundreds of Facebook friends. We’ve seen some good people die and we can be grateful that we’re still here.
* We’ve had the time to get to know ourselves and hopefully like the person we see in the mirror. We can accept the fact that we’re flawed, but if we are aware, we can make the best of what we’ve got.
* We’ve accepted the fact that after all these years on earth, there’s so much we don’t know. That’s a much healthier position than knowing everything, which we probably did 30 – 40 years ago.
* We have the time to do what we want to do – not what we have to do. We have survived the “rat race” and can now look back at it and wonder why we took it so seriously.
* When we look at all the chaos and misery that’s happening in some countries, we can appreciate how fortunate we are living here.
* After experiencing some painful losses in the past, most older people can appreciate and be grateful for the things they’ve got.
* The more astute among us have accepted the fact that life is too important to be taken seriously.
Paul McKeon
