Life'll kill ya
When he puts his mind to it and appends more than a fatuous and ill-considered "heh" or "indeed" to someone else's comments, Glenn Reynolds can write. His Tech Central Station columns are usually thought-provoking at least, and this week's is no exception. He tackles an issue that is close to my heart at the moment: aging.
I'm turning 30 in a few weeks, and even though I know in my head that it's not a big deal, not like birth, dying, or having a kid, I still can't shake a certain sense of temporal vertigo. As GeekLethal wrote a few weeks ago, time's a bitch (I paraphrase). Basically, 30 means I can't in any way at all possibly whatsoever be a kid anymore.
Glenn's piece is a musing on age-extending technologies. In answer to the inevitable critics of Methuselah drugs and whatnot, who might argue that the planet is overpopulated as it is, etc. etc., he writes
I've watched people I love age and die, and it wasn't "beautiful and natural." It sucked. Aging is a disease. Cataracts and liver spots don't bring moral enlightenment or spiritual transcendence. Death may be natural -- but so are smallpox, rape, and athlete's foot. "Natural" isn't the same as "good."
Well said. Not an argument, exactly, but well said. "Natural" gave us hemp underwear, hippies, and the clap. To hell with natural. And long live, well, me!
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Aging. Heh.
Aging. Heh.
I'm having way the fuck more fun and am vastly happier at 40 (OK, 41) than I was at 30 and for more reasons than I can count. Let's leap past the personal (love, family) and into the general.
At 30 one might still be able to "feel like a kid," and that's cool. Yet I'm digging 40. It might be only ten more years but it has doubled my time here as an adult and even this dimwit's gained some tiny insights:
-- I don't give a shit what others think. I sure as hell used to. Sweet relief!
-- I used to think I could make another person happy. Now I know I can only make myself happy and I can in fact do so.
-- Mean people suck. Unpleasant people suck. Unhappy people suck. Stay away from them. Besides, people who smile aren't just nicer, they're sexier.
-- Respect and love yourself or others won't.
-- Stay busy. Let others watch TV.
-- Sex. It's what's for dinner. And breakfast.
-- Find something difficult and fun. Learn to do it. Repeat.
-- Spend more time with friends.
-- Don't work so damn hard.
I adore the potential of growing old. Not only does it beat the alternative but I get to share my life with people I love, value, and respect. And I can't wait to see what happens next.
So what if this all parses like some self-help claptrap? Wanna be a kid? Put on your dancing shoes and dance. You *know* your wardrobe's better now.