For a year or two now I've been saying that I think 50 is the new 40. I'm actually serious in that it seems to me that the way I feel about 50 [I'm in my mid forties at present] seems to be how people of my paretns' generation and older seemed to talk about being 40. Then again, also as I keep pointing out to people; it seemed to me as a child that people died in their late 60's or early 70's, whereas now I'm more conscious of people dying in their late 70's and early 80's [hey, I've done my share of funerals over 18 years for this staw poll to be worth thinking further about]. And so my intuition in response to this ...
"Instead of measuring aging by how long people have lived so far, the scientists have factored in how many more years people can still look forward to." is that it's right. I think that our expectation of what is a normal lifespan colours the psychology of our aging. I know that for me, the awareness that I've just about hit the point where I'm more than half-way has made quite a difference to the way I think about all sorts of things including my age itself.
The other thing though, is the generation gap -or not. The seems to be a huge gap between my parents and me in terms of culture: they were formed by the war years and immediate post-war years. I was a child of the 1960's and 1970's [and to some extent the 80's]. My own children, now teenagers, seem far closer to me and my spouse in cultural terms than we are to their grandparents. What this means is that attitudes to fashion and music and so on are less a generational thing [though there are still things that are generational they seem more isolated and rarer]. My dad pretty much still wears the kind of things that he grew up in the fifties wearing, and my mum's look similarly is variations on the themes that I seem to recall from my growing up. On the other hand, my wife and I tend to wear stuff that can be swapped at times with our kids [and is]. Darned annoying when my best trousers disappear cos a son has borrowed them for a social occasion! [and not ironically either]. Still, the advantage is that I can wear their stuff sometimes too and it doesn't seem silly.
The real generational difference is how big their feet are! So no swapping footwear...
What is that about, the bigger feet?
Is 40 really the new 30? - Aging - MSNBC.com:
-
I've been watching the TV series 'Foundation'. I read the books about 50 years ago (I know!) but scarcely now remember anything...
-
from: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/online/2012/5/22/1337672561216/Annular-solar-eclipse--008.jpg -
I've just had an article published on emergingchurch.info. It's an adaptation of some of my book, but I thought I'd share it and...
2 comments:
Wow! Great article. I think I could have written it. I am also in my mid-forties and notice also that the generation gap between myself and my mother (my father has passed on) is huge, but there is nearly no gap between myself and my two twenty-something sons. We listen to the same music, read the same books, have similar political opinions, dress similarly, etc. My twenty year old nephew bought me tickets to a Green Day concert for my upcoming birthday.
Now, this may all be indicative of my own immaturity. Perhaps I'm the world's oldest teenager. Who knows?
The one thing that does tend to remind me of my age are my two grandsons, Ashton, 5 yrs old, and Edric, 4 months old. The first time I heard the term "grandpa" applied to me, I thought I was going to die! But the first time it came out of my grandson's mouth it was the most beautiful word I've ever heard.
Peace,
Mike
Thanks Mike; nice to have my intimations confirmed. I don't think it's an immaturity on your part or being the world's oldest teenager; it's our culture. The big change happened in the 60's and 70's those of us on this side of that change have more in common regardless of generation than we do with those on the other side of it -even if closer in age. "We're all tenneagers now" -wish I could recall who is credited with saying that, but there's a truth to it.
Not got as far as being a grampa yet: closest is young nephews but it's close enough for me to know what you mean about in the sense that I can make an emotional connection with it. I was left feeling after my last time with them that I could actually be okay about the prospect of being a grandparent.
Post a Comment