Aging humbles us all.
The days go by and before you know it the years are gone and you discover that you are old. You realize that many things you wanted did not and will not happen. And as each new day goes by you know that you have less and less to gain and more and more that has been lost. You realize that you have less days to live and therefore you look back more at the ones you have lived. Self-reflection is a constant.
The process is not necessarily a negative thing. The world can become slower and perhaps calmer. You look inward more and you find out more about yourself. Some find more peace. Some find less. Family becomes more and more important. Past events become romanticized and made more important. Others become less important. Your views may become less dimensional and therefore have more clarity.
But slowly and surely a detoriation of your body and mind occurs until you become a different person. You may lose your sense of worth and the role in life you felt was yours. And in the worst case you may become eventually dependent on others. If you maintain your mental alertness you hope you can maintain mastery of your own self and avoid the feelings of helplessness as the slide toward the inevitable continues.
A good death, if there is one, is not a slow one, though one could correctly argue that we are all slowly dying. A good death is a fast one that avoids any feelings of helplessness, lack of control and fear. And a good death is one when you are ready both mentally and spiritually. Especially spiritually.
My wife has a joke she likes to tell: "I want to die like my grandpa, calmly in his sleep. Not like the four passengers in his car who died wide awake and screaming."
Posted by: Pete (Alois) | 07/25/2013 at 02:58 PM
Well said, Lewis.
Sixty was a watershed birthday for me. At 50, I could rationalize that my life was only about half over. Lots of people live to100. At 60, I was clearly on the downhill side of life. Who lives to 120? Now I am waiting for 70.
Posted by: Jerry Critter | 07/26/2013 at 12:54 AM