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with Kathleen Gibson Oct. 29-08 How are you old? God got things backwards, I think sometimes. Had I been in charge of creation, I may have fixed it so that we�d enter the world old and wizened, with funny underwear and few teeth. Our first food would be vitamin-saturated milkshakes; we could say whatever we wished without consequence, and we could play games like those in this list of top ten games for seniors. (Except #1, of course!) 10. Pick up canes. 9. Musical recliners. 8. Spin the bottle of Metamucil 7. Hide and go pee. 6. Find my marbles. 5. Duck, duck, tremble. 4. Red Rover, Red Rover, nurse says bend over. 3. Pin the Toupee on the bald spot. 2. Sag. 1. Kick the Bucket. In my creation, I�d slowly reverse the state of dotage. Our wrinkles would smooth, we�d find our marbles without difficulty, our trembling would cease, and our hair return. We�d get stronger, younger, more useful, smarter, and definitely more beautiful. Our breasts would point west. Our shoulders would stay square. Finally, after a lifetime of betterment, we�d become children again; protected, doted on. People would find us amusing, give us candy. Life�s finale would see us embraced within the circle of a loving family, cradled in a mother�s arms, eventually tucked forever beneath her heart. Aren�t you glad I�m not God? How I hate seeing those I love get old. Watching their faculties diminish between visits enrages me. When Moses of the Bible died, he was 120 years old, and �clear of vision and full of vigor�. Many of the ancients thrived for hundreds of years. They fathered children, completed massive projects, and conquered obstacles far bigger than themselves. In fact, one doesn�t have to read very far in the Bible to realize that the demoralizing kind of aging we see today wasn�t God idea at all. I�m with Moses. I�d prefer to die young, as late as possible. Another senior issue wasn�t God�s idea. As Billy Graham says, �I never read in the Bible where God retired anybody.� Have you observed that too often, people who leave productive work also leave productive life? Author Leonard Sweet comments in �Earthquakes� that, �The concept of retirement, as it developed since the 1960�s is an obscene and vulgar concept. It is based on giving persons in their later years societal permission to go whoring after youthfulness and to regress to an adolescent state of existence.� Whoa�and I was looking forward to my second adolescence! Sweet goes on to say that in the next several decades medical research may well extend life expectancy to a possible 120 years. Due to their wisdom and experience, he challenges Christian seniors to march to the forefront of societal change. That rules out the rocking chair, the motor home and �over 55� housing. Art Linkletter, author of �Old Age is Not for Sissies� concurs. The question we should all consider, he says, is not "How old are you?� But, �How are you old?" So...how are you old? �2008, Kathleen Gibson Respond Home |
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