You don't need to look far to know that old age is abhorrent to most people. Or, as someone once said, "Everyone wants to live a long time, but nobody wants to be old."
You can't turn a page in a magazine, watch television for more than five minutes or click through more than two or three pages on the internet without bumping into an ad for something that promises to prevent aging. Some people – usually old ones – see it differently.
Earlier this week, The New Old Age blog at The New York Times reported on an April sermon by 90-year-old Rabbi Joshua Haberman of Washington Hebrew Congregation in Washington, D.C. in which he lists six benefits of growing old. The abbreviated version:
• Tranquility
• The cooling of passion
• Submission to what you cannot control
• Willingness to be wrong
• Increased appreciation and gratitude
• The love of family
You can read the entire sermon with the rabbi's explanation of each benefit here. [pdf]
It's a good list and I wouldn't argue these conclusions with anyone - especially a learned rabbi - who has 22 years on me. Although I've not reached his level of attainment, I do feel progress. But wait: I think his list the too short.
Rabbi Haberman covers the big picture well. Still, there are other rewards for living a long life that may be less profound and, in other cases, more specific but are equally satisfying.
Two examples: I am lately more willing to forgive others and, no small matter, myself, for the kinds of transgressions that in youth seemed more baleful than they are. It is also a gift to be gaining a better perspective on my place in the scheme of things; self-centeredness wanes. I guess I mean that in age, we learn to get over ourselves.
And I am deeply thankful that I've overcome worrying about what others think of me that wasted so much energy for so long.
So, class, your assignment today, is to tell us something – choose just one – that you see as a benefit of growing old. Each stage of life has its advantages and disadvantages and too much emphasis is given to the disadvantages of age.
At The Elder Storytelling Place today, Brenda Henry: Bus, My Boogie to Wonderland.
You can't turn a page in a magazine, watch television for more than five minutes or click through more than two or three pages on the internet without bumping into an ad for something that promises to prevent aging. Some people – usually old ones – see it differently.
Earlier this week, The New Old Age blog at The New York Times reported on an April sermon by 90-year-old Rabbi Joshua Haberman of Washington Hebrew Congregation in Washington, D.C. in which he lists six benefits of growing old. The abbreviated version:
• Tranquility
• The cooling of passion
• Submission to what you cannot control
• Willingness to be wrong
• Increased appreciation and gratitude
• The love of family
You can read the entire sermon with the rabbi's explanation of each benefit here. [pdf]
It's a good list and I wouldn't argue these conclusions with anyone - especially a learned rabbi - who has 22 years on me. Although I've not reached his level of attainment, I do feel progress. But wait: I think his list the too short.
Rabbi Haberman covers the big picture well. Still, there are other rewards for living a long life that may be less profound and, in other cases, more specific but are equally satisfying.
Two examples: I am lately more willing to forgive others and, no small matter, myself, for the kinds of transgressions that in youth seemed more baleful than they are. It is also a gift to be gaining a better perspective on my place in the scheme of things; self-centeredness wanes. I guess I mean that in age, we learn to get over ourselves.
And I am deeply thankful that I've overcome worrying about what others think of me that wasted so much energy for so long.
So, class, your assignment today, is to tell us something – choose just one – that you see as a benefit of growing old. Each stage of life has its advantages and disadvantages and too much emphasis is given to the disadvantages of age.
At The Elder Storytelling Place today, Brenda Henry: Bus, My Boogie to Wonderland.