On Becoming a Senior Citizen

Fri, 25 Jul 2014 00:00:00 +0000

“Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength.” (Betty Friedan)

Life happens. The day has come that I am officially a Senior Citizen. While I’m looking forward to receiving my monthly pension cheques and all the other discounts and perks that come with my senior status, this post contains some of my observations over sixty-five years.

Sixty-five years is a long life. From the moment we’re born, the process of learning how to live in this world starts. We learn from our caregivers what are the social and cultural mores we are expected to live up to. Each and everyone of them does the best job they can to impact our positive growth and development. By the time one arrives at age 65, it’s alright to admit to oneself, if not to everybody else, that all these well-meaning and trusted souls were imperfect themselves. This means that I can’t be anywhere near perfect or any kind of saint. In our human nature, there are flaws. “Thinking well is the greatest excellence and wisdom: to act and speak what is true, perceiving things according to their nature.” (Herakleitos)

Sixty-Five on Late Blooms

On Becoming a Senior Citizen