Yes, it’s me. I’m back (for now anyway). Once again, my amazing wife saved me from the clutches of death, and for now I’m back in the ring, ready for another fight. I do, however, know that I’ll be knocked out eventually, and then that will be the end of me.
The only
thing in life that is constant is change.
The only
thing in life that is certain is death.
Death is
the only certain thing, and despite this being the absolute truth (with only
the timing varying from person to person) we never seem to be prepared for it.
Religion has
long been thought to be a solution to the problem of death. Notions of an
afterlife are nearly universal, though there is great diversity in the details.
Given this close association between religion and death, researchers have long
supposed that religion somehow manages to lessen the fear of death.
There is,
however, one fear that is on par with death and it’s called old age.
Some people fear aging so much that it becomes as pathological condition called
Gerascophobia (yes, it’s a real word) leading to irrational thoughts and
behavior. An example of this is a fixation on health, illness and mortality,
and the best money-making scheme, a preoccupation with hiding the signs of ageing.
The fear of
ageing is really a fear of the unknown, and modern society has managed to make
things worse. For one thing, old age in modern society is seen as undesirable
and even scary. Society’s focus on youthfulness and capability is causing a
most distressing anxiety of becoming weak and unwanted. Just look at all the
anti-aging advertised products reinforcing the idea that growing older is inherently
unattractive.
Living your
life is like burning a candle. The longer it burns the more out of shape it
gets, and the signs of a final flickering of light is unavoidable. We can try,
and most of us do, to run from ageing and death, but you cannot hide from it
for long. No living thing will leave this world alive. Old age and death are a
certainty for all of us, BUT, it’s not about that. Life is all about getting
the most out of the time you’ve been given.
I remember
a movie which we saw many years ago called The Curious Case of Benjamin
Button. The movie is about living life in reverse. Benjamin Button is born
in 1860 at the age of seventy. He is born in the body of an old man with the
ability to walk and talk. If that is not curious enough, as he lives his life,
he ages in reverse. When he dies as an infant, there are no memories of the
past, nor can he walk or crawl.
At the core
of the movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is about how we live, given
the unavoidable reality of death. Whether we live forward into old age or
backwards into infancy, the result is the same – We die.
When we
start our own families, we usually start young and so we grow with our babies,
and we expect them to be babies and do what babies do. We don’t mind taking
care of them, it comes with the territory, babies being babies. We clean up
after them, feed them, guide them. It all comes quite naturally. Having an old
grown-up baby is quite a different story.
If we are
so afraid of old age, or the terrible effects of ageing, then instead of
running from it, the ideal would be to rather prepare for it – mentally,
physically and, if possible, financially. If you’re afraid of old age, you most
certainly will also be afraid of death, but there’s no running from it. The
Curious Case of Benjamin Button underscores the impermanence of life and the
inevitability of change. It teaches us to appreciate the present moment and to
embrace life’s imperfections.
Tanja and I
are in the second half of our lives and we find ourselves grasping at straws. By
now we should be looking forward to a retirement day, but alas, all our
preparations lie scattered and tattered at our feet. Why, you may ask? Read our
story on PegLegs and Me Blog and find out. We, like so many, are going into older age, not looking forward
to retiring, but slaving away till our last breath – an almost hopeless and
helpless case. It’s like Tanja said in her previous post, If Only We Knew. If only
we could have seen into the future, just a glimpse, how different things would
have been. It’s a crying shame how this previous Plandemic could also bring so
many people (including us) to their knees, and yet allow others to benefit from it.
Tanja, in
her search for a better, healthier life for me, trying to squeeze a last drop
of life into me, stumbled onto a gem. She has created something that brought
relief to my aching body. Countless hours and energy have been spent on
research and development. She has tapped some of the best minds in the field of
healthy and natural medicine and come out with a winner. At this stage, our
stalemate, we need a plan to move forward. If only people will see the
potential and experience the effects, but sadly, most people like sheep, prefer
dangerous pharmaceutical drugs. I wish I could grab people by the scuff and
say, “Just give it a try and see for yourself, FFS!” It works, it really works,
naturally. BUT, we need a good push to get this business moving.
With that
said, I would like to end this piece with the following message:
We will
change because it is the only constant in life, so make peace with it and make
peace with death. Tell the people that matter most to you that you love and
appreciate them, so that when you do come face to face with death, you can
smile and say, at the very least: “I lived and I loved and that is what being
alive is all about!”
Comments