AGE IS AN ATTITUDE

By Ryhaan Shah

As we grow older, many of us agree with the idea that age is not a number but an attitude and there are many quotes from the famous – sage advice, defiant poetry, witty words – that give substance to that idea.
There is a wonderful story about Queen Elizabth II who at age 95, a year before she died, politely, through her private secretary, declined what she obviously saw as the dubious honour of being named “Oldie of the Year” by a UK publication. The queen stated that she did not believe she met the relevant criteria because “you are as old as you feel.”
She, obviously, did not feel like an “oldie” and she is in the good company of many famous people who had no time for counting the passing years but continued to pursue life and all the living that comes with it.
American industrialist Henry Ford stated, “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”
Martin Luther King, Jnr once said: “Oh, the worst of all tragedies is not to die young, but to live until I am seventy-five and yet not ever truly to have lived.” His words are especially poignant when we consider he was assassinated at age 39. His legacy of hope and courage lives on because he did truly live.
Abraham Lincoln saw ageing in a similar vein and said, “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.”
There are no direct words of wisdom on growing old from Mahatma Gandhi who viewed aging not as a decline, but as a continuous stage for purposeful living, service, and spiritual growth. He said, “As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves.”
For Gandhi, living a long life opens up opportunities to become a better person, and the greatest scientific mind of the 20th century, Albert Einstein, agreed when he said: “Do not grow old no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born.”
Famous writers have also had their say about ageing. Czech author Franz Kafka observed:
“Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old”; and British playwright George Bernard Shaw has often been quoted for his quip, “You don’t stop laughing when you grow old, you grow old when you stop laughing.”
Dolly Parton, who died recently at age 80, said on that birthday: “I think there’s a lot to be said about age. If you allow yourself to get old, you will. I say, ‘I ain’t got time to get old!’ I ain’t got time to dwell on that. That’s not what I’m thinking about.”
She was very open about the cosmetic procedures that kept her looking youthful. It was part of her charm, that openness. Women, perhaps because of societal pressure and expectations, and especially those in the public eye, are more concerned about the ageing process itself and French designer Coco Chanel said: “Nature gives you the face you have at twenty; it is up to you to merit the face you have at fifty.”
Belgian designer Diane Von Furstenberg, who is 79, said, “My face carries all my memories. Why should I erase them?” and American writer Mark Twain once said, “Wrinkles should merely indicate where the smiles have been.”
American comedians have added their wit to their own ageing with Lucille Ball saying, “The secret to staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age”, with Bob Hope adding, “You know you’re getting old when the candles cost more than the cake.”
Mark Twain is also credited with saying that ageing is a privilege denied to many, and Einstein, acting on the self-assurance and privilege that come with aging, once quipped, “I have reached an age when, if someone tells me to wear socks, I don’t have to.”
The poets, of course, have added their say from Robert Browning’s “Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be”; to Shakespeare’s “With mirth and laughter, let old wrinkles come”; and on to those lines of defiance from Welsh poet Dylan Thomas: “Do not go gentle into that good night/Old age should burn and rave at close of day/Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”