Think about it

“We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”
~ George Bernard Shaw

Or, to paraphrase, “We don’t stop learning because we grow old; we grow old because we stop learning.”
 

Or, “We don’t stop caring because we grow old; we grow old because we stop caring.”
 

Or, “We don’t lose our sense of wonder because we grow old; we grow old because we lose our sense of wonder.”

Something to think about.

A winter bush full of birds - awesome sight

No more age limits!

Have you seen those cutesy emails about Baby Boomers reaching Social Social Security age –that detail in a humorous way the aches, vulnerabilities, and deterioration accepted as normal for seniors?

While it’s probably better to laugh than to cry, I must protest.

Might age be a state of mind? Musicians and politicians (very strange bedfellows) often stay physically active and mentally sharp decades after others have retired.

Grandma Moses stands as a worthy example of a woman who, unexpectedly, launched a new career in the arts in her 70s.

Another woman who defined “productivity” during her senior years was Mary Baker Eddy – author, editor, publisher, lecturer, teacher, and preacher. She wrote, “Except for the error of measuring and limiting all that is good and beautiful, man would enjoy more than threescore years and ten and still maintain his vigor, freshness, and promise. Man, governed by immortal Mind, is always beautiful and grand. Each succeeding year unfolds wisdom, beauty, and holiness.”

In fact, when Eddy wrote those words, the average life expectancy was 45 – so that age 70 (threescore years and ten) is about 60% greater. Google reveals the life expectancy in 2007 in the United States at 78 years. So, an increase of 60% over that, using Eddy’s cheery estimate, would be 125 years. In other countries, today’s life expectancy is even greater – 82 in Japan, 81 in Singapore, 80 in Sweden, Australia, Switzerland, Iceland, Canada, and France.

So why not anticipate vigor, freshness and promise -- right through 125 years of age? What if the antidote has more to do with attitude than we think? -- to not measure or limit anything good and beautiful in our lives.

This includes deciding whether to forward even those emails that, while eliciting chuckles and smiles, spread an accepted curtailment and inevitable decline of intelligence, health, and mobility for those past a certain number of years.

Yes, the lives of those in all generations can embrace “all that is good and beautiful.”

The ad below affirms the satisfying surprise of challenging assumed limits for age and gender too.

Baby boom decline - unavoidable?

A friend forwarded part of an email conversation in which she protested the apathetic acceptance of "over-the-hill" thinking. You've seen it in greeting cards. People hold Over-the-hill parties. Ho, ho, ho. While there is some nobility in making the best of a bad situation, there is nothing funny about inevitable decline. (Names changed):

She and Jim were engaged in email conversation. He had sent one of those cutesy mass emails about Baby Boomers reaching Social Security age – and all the problems (so funny, yeah right!)

Jim and Ann are good friends, so she talk bluntly, and shared what she felt should be the Boomer email going around, and included some forward looking thoughts about aging, such as Eddy's statement in Science and Health that,

“Except for the error of measuring and limiting all that is good and beautiful, man would enjoy more than threescore years and ten and still maintain his vigor, freshness, and promise. Man, governed by immortal Mind, is always beautiful and grand. Each succeeding year unfolds wisdom, beauty, and holiness.”

Jim shot back, "Three score & ten is a little short sighted these days, don't ya think?"

So this sent Ann to some research. “Yes,” she replied, “BUT - Since the average life expectancy when Eddy wrote that was about 45 – and 70 is about 60% more than that, we could take the average life expectancy at any time, multiply by 60 % , and change that sentence accordingly.

Furthermore, Ann googled and found that in 2004 the life expectancy at birth was 77.9 – let’s say 78. 78 x 60% means that her sentence, when put in the early 21st century scale would read:

"Except for the error of measuring and limiting all that is good and beautiful, man would enjoy more than sixscore years and five (translates to 125 years!) and still maintain his vigor, freshness, and promise."

That’s as wild as Eddy's statement would have seemed to the readers of her day! And the concept is as true today as the original was then. Which all goes to show that we have to stop measuring and limiting – even in “cute” ways!

Ann concluded, "That little word “except” is key to that sentence’s promise! And even a Boomer’s life embraces 'all that is good and beautiful.' ”