SIXTY AS THE NEW FIFTY

Lately I’ve been hearing a lot of my contemporaries saying something that I find rather amusing, sixty is the new fifty. Have you heard this? If you’re in my age-range maybe you’ve even said it. If so, then I apologize if I’m about to burst your bubble. Trust me, sixty is not the new fifty. Sixty is sixty. It always was, it is now and it always will be.

So why the self-delusion?

I wish I knew, but I suspect it has something to do with the need among persons my age and older to avoid the fact that, well, we’re getting old. Let’s face it, if the normal course of things plays out those of us over sixty are in the last trimester of our time on this planet. A rude awakening, but no less true by virtue of our artificially trying to strip away a decade from our accumulated years.

Granted, these days most of us sextegenarians probably do a better job of keeping ourselves healthy than our forebears did. Better medicines, better beauty products, better fitness habits and better foods…all these factors contribute to the prospect that we’re likely to be healthier for a longer period of time than our parents, or their parents before them.

And yet, I repeat, sixty is still sixty.

So, how do we who have accumulated more than six decades of life change our perspective and simply accept what is? Well…maybe we don’t. Maybe we doggedly perpetuate our denial, but if we do, why stop at fifty? Why not shout from the rooftops that sixty is the new forty, or the new thirty-five? Frankly, I like the sound of that a lot better!

Now, if only I could remember why I’m writing this…

Proverbs 16:31 says, Gray hair is crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life.

If you’re old maybe this will make you feel better.

Love and blessings,

David