Sixty · 28 October 2023
Sixty. It is hard to believe that I am turning sixty.
I have always said that age is just a number. Or an attitude. It is not how old you are, but how active and how vibrant you are. But sixty? That is old. Or at least it is getting up there.
Actually, I still think that age is just a number. After all, what is the difference between 60 and 59? One. See. Just a number. And I know people who are older and in better health and better spirits than I am. Then again, it is not about comparisons. It is about the attitude.
(On the other hand, the number sixty is not really the interesting number in my life. The more interesting number is 29. You see, I am on year 29 in the same job. Nearly half of my life doing the same thing. Educating young people. Not only that, but I have spent all but three and a half of those years in the same room! That seems to be something. (But it is still another story. Maybe one I will write next year.))
But back to the notion of sixty.
It is funny. Back when I was in my twenties, I was hanging out with my younger brother and his friends. I do not remember exactly what we were doing or where we were planning to go, but I said to them, “You don’t want to hang out with an old man.” (They were, and still are, about five years younger than I.) They all laughed. “Hey, old man.” That moniker stuck. And I have been an old man to them since that time. And now, I really am. (Like I said, they are only about five years younger than I am, so they too will be old men in no time.)
As they say, time and tide wait for no man. Or woman. Time marches on. We just keep getting older by the day. By the second. And that is okay. Better to keep getting older than the alternative. Which is not trying to be morbid or anything. In fact, it would be a great opportunity to preach. But I will refrain.
The thing is, I do not really feel much older today than yesterday. Or even than last year. Or the year before. I am certainly not getting any younger, but except for needing a nap every now and then or going to sleep at dusk, I do not really feel much older than I felt last year. (I do not really go to sleep at dusk. I wonder whether anybody really knows what dusk is anymore.)
One last notion about age. I hope that age does bring wisdom. I know it is not always the case, but I hope that I have some wisdom in me. I will certainly never be as wise as Solomon, but perhaps I can apply the wisdom he gives us at the end of Ecclesiastes.
Well, that is about it. I am not quite sixty yet, but I think it might be time for a nap.
© 2023 Michael T. Miyoshi
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