"This is Getting Old."
Within the last two days, I heard the above titled expression three times. My reaction was, "Is old bad?" And then, I saw my friend Kevin Kelly's quote, "The chief prevention against getting old is to remain astonished." Why not replace the word "old" with "boring"?
Yes, I know we live in an ageist society in which age is radioactive, and youth is revered, so I wanted to offer a few sage quotes that might remind us that getting old isn't such a dire predicament.
“The young man knows the rules. The old man knows the exceptions.”
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
“Old age, believe me, is a good and pleasant thing. It is true you are gently shouldered off the stage, but then you are given such a comfortable front seat as a spectator.”
- Confucius
“It takes a long time to grow an old friend.”
- John Leonard
“When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.”
- Abraham Joshua Heschel
“The very old and the very young have something in common that makes it right that they should be left alone together. Dawn and sunset see stars shining in a blue sky; but morning and midday and afternoon do not, poor things."
- Elizabeth Goudge
