A Humorous look at Getting Old

Interviewer "You 've reached the ripe old age of 121. What do you expect the future to be like?""Very Short" - 121 year old lady.Getting older is one of those inevitabilities in life which sometimes the only comfort seems to be that at least it is better than the only real alternative. A fear of getting old comes about from many reasons. Increasing frailties, decline in physical beauty and the impending likelihood of death and all the inherent uncertainties this brings.The best attitude is to look upon getting old with good humour.The British politician Richard Needham noted:"As you grow old, you lose interest in sex, your friends drift away and your children often ignore you. There are other advantages of course, but these are the outstanding ones."Like many things in life it is the attitude to growing old that is important. True we may loose some of our youthful vitality and looks but age need not be a barrier to achievement. Many of the greatest accomplishments in huma n endeavour have been achieved by people in the twilight of their lives. For example Winston Churchill, Rabindranath Tagore, Thomas Jefferson. The average age of the most important jobs in US, members of congress, is well over 50. If congressman had to retire at 50 that would cut out a lot of senators. Although whether this is actually a ringing endorsement of old age is obviously a matter of debate.The physical effects of ageing are problematic."You don't know real embarrassment until your hip sets off a metal detector" Ross McGuinness.For many older people a twin problem of ageing is an expanding waistline which seems to accompany the ageing process with effortless ease. Middle age spread afflicts both the great and good. Peter Gabriel the British musician wryly commented"I guess I don't mind so much being old, as I mind being fat and old."This is especially a problem as many older people find that eating is one of the few pleasures left and declining physical health makes physical activity more difficult and less desirable.At the end of the day there is nothing we can do about getting old. We can lie about our age, we can have cosmetic surgery and facelifts to hide the visible effects but old age is along with death and tax , one of those great inevitabilities,. At least we don't have to face what the British comedian Eric Sykes did who remarked."When I get in a taxi the first thing they say is. "Hello Eric I thought you were dead."Perhaps as we are getting older we should follow the advice of Patrick Moore and Mark Twain. Let us check the obituary notices in the newspaper and if we don't see our name we can continue for another day. And don't worry too much if you are in your 30s and worried about the advancing years, after all it is said the best years in life are the 10 years between our 39th and 40th Birthday.

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