MC #5 – Growing Old [2 pages]

All of us grow old and face the consequences associated with aging until we die.  This is a fact. 

This means our “space of possibilities” to think and act on behalf of our concerns, spouses and ambitions, such as earning, saving and investing enough money to “live a good life”, is always shrinking.

Every day we have one less day to live, and one less day to take care of our concerns.

And this means that every day the urgency with which we must act to fulfill our intentions and ambitions increases until they are fulfilled.

To grow old biologically means that our body’s capacity to generate effective action and recover from stress diminishes over time until we die.  We never grow younger or farther away from our death, but always closer to it.

This means our concerns for taking care of ourselves change as our biology weakens and our spaces of possibilities to think and act effectively in time to take care of our concerns steadily erode.  Our outlook on life and our philosophy of what life means changes.  We become more concerned with health and maintaining our bodies to avoid the high costs of healthcare.

In addition, the world around us, our communities and families, change.  Our children get married and produce grandchildren.   Our parents also grow older and may need care.

The world around spouses may seem to go on forever, but spouses grow old steadily and always run out of time.

We can anticipate these consequences of growing old.  We can learn to modify our thinking and practices in order to cope.  We have to if we are to live a good life.

As our bodies grow old and those around us, of all ages, mature as well, we need different practices of care.  These practices aren’t obvious and we are not entitled to know them. 

We are living longer than ever before.  We have more to cope with than ever before.  And, we live in a world that is indifferent to us and our concerns. 

The older we get, the more vulnerable we become and the harsher the effects of indifference at moments of maximum vulnerability, that is, when we are sick, injured, poor, alone and frail. 

We have to make new interpretations of aging in order to design practices that enable us to cope.  As a married couple with ambition, we can educate ourselves and begin to build wealth and knowledge for coping in our old age.  Certainly, we cannot rely on anyone else to do it for us.  And we certainly don’t want to join the majority of baby boomers who are headed to lonely, poor and unhealthy futures.