Old Age Becoming Wiser

A police car pulled up in front of an older woman's house, and her husband climbed out. The polite policeman explained that "this elderly gentleman" said that he was lost in the park and couldn't find his way home.

"How could it happen?" asked his wife. "You've been going to that park for over 30 years! How could you get lost?"

Leaning close to her ear so that the policeman couldn't hear, he whispered, "I wasn't lost - I was just too tired to walk home."

These bodies become less cooperative as we age. For some, work becomes less fun and fun becomes more work. One older friend commented, "I've reached the age where the warranty has expired on my remaining teeth and internal organs."

But I like the spirit of Charles Marowitz. "Old age is like climbing a mountain," he says. "The higher you get; the more tired and breathless you become. But your view becomes much more extensive."

Atop the mountain, one has a better view of the world. One can see above the differences that divide people. One can better see beyond petty hurts and human fragility. Atop the mountain, one has a longer view of the past and can therefore understand the future with more clarity. Atop the mountain, one looks down on dark clouds of gloom and despair and fear and notices that they are neither as large nor as ominous as those beneath them would believe. It is also clearer that however dark they may appear, they too, are fleeting and will someday pass.

George Bernard Shaw said, "Some are younger at seventy than most at seventeen." I think it is because they have a broader outlook.

It will take a lifetime to climb the mountain, but, for me, the view will be worth the journey.

Something to share……

Many people who climbed up Mount Kinabalu in early mornings were to get to Low’s Peak, the highest summit of the mountain, just in time to get a glimpse of the spectacular sunrise. If old age is like climbing a mountain, then I will make sure that I will be at top of the mountain to see sunrise and not sunset.

As we age and grow older, we also grow wiser. Ever heard of, “Wisdom comes from experience, and experience comes with age”? We gathered our working experience as our year of service increased. We learned through our mistakes, mainly from the bitter experience that we had gone through. Then we gradually acquired relevant knowledge through practical experience and became wiser in problem solving and decision making.

The words of God confirmed that,” The splendor of old men is their grey head.” (Proverbs 20:29b) For old men are “wise people who store up knowledge.” (Proverbs 10:14a)

“Everybody, no matter how old you are, is around 24, 25 in their heart,” said Bruce Willis in People. With such thinking in mind, life moves on……

Be a wise old man, always feels young in heart!