Successful aging retains the quality that only old books, old wine, old friends can give
By Bernard Baskin
The Hamilton Spectator
Observations and witticisms about old age are ubiquitous. There is no escaping mortality, but evidently we can talk and laugh about it.
George Burns at 95 was asked what restrictions old age had imposed upon him. He replied, "I don't buy green bananas anymore." Fred Astaire said that old age is like everything else, to make a success at it, you've got to start young.
Hugh Downs, American TV host, confessed, "I've always thought that the stereotype of the dirty old man is really the creation of a dirty young man who wants the field to himself." A Pennsylvania German proverb teaches that if you pull out a grey hair, seven will come to its funeral.
There are a few areas of the world where people are said to live the longest: In the Ecuadorian Andean mountains, in Hunzaland in the Pakistani Himalayas, and in the Caucasus Mountains of Russia. Residents of these remote areas live in high altitudes, breathe clean and healthy mountain air and engage in vigorous daily exercise.
But the true secret of their longevity includes a positive outlook on life, the ability to deal with stress and emotional upheaval and to benefit from a nurturing and stable extended family. They are made to feel needed, useful, vital and important.
But perhaps, most important of all, the secret of their longevity is found in their loving and being loved. They flourish in communities where people really care about each other.
A psychologist at Boston University has done innovative research on the subject of unselfish love. He found that caring for others without concern about benefits for oneself is closely related to good health and longevity.
As Hamlet said, holding in his hands, a skull, "To this favour we must all come." The reality of our lives is that as time goes on, if we can't find meaning and value in our later years we reveal that our earlier years were hollow as well.
What is disheartening for the elderly - like myself - is the passing from the scene of classmates, congregants, colleagues and friends. The ties to the past grow weaker and the future is a template of dwindling days.
In Oliver Goldsmith's play, She Stoops To Conquer, Hardcastle says to his wife Dorothy, "I love everything that is old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine, and I believe, Dorothy, you'll own, I have been pretty fond of an old wife."
Successful aging not only retains the kind of quality that only old books, old wine, old friends can give -- it also brings a seasoned wisdom to which the young can not pretend without betraying their youth.
When Socrates was brought to trial for corrupting the young and was sentenced to death, even those who condemned him were appalled at what they had done. They connived in a plan for his escape. But Socrates demurred. He said, "I have lived my whole life in dedication to the principles of justice and truth, and shall I now in the short time remaining to me destroy the significance of all that has gone before?"
In many ways, it is the old that are to be envied by the young. They have so much less to lose that often they are capable of much more dedication and commitment to the values, ideals, and principles which provide meaning to all our lives.
Rabbi Gunther Plaut of Toronto concludes his wise and helpful book, The Price And Privilege Of Growing Old, with the assurance that we who are old deserve to be seen for who we are: individuals who don't want to spend the rest of our days as society's offal, discarded and delegitimized.
He writes that most of us still have much to give. Rescuing our potential from thoughtless waste and making it available to all will be a common benefit. "The young will learn from the exercise -- and the young will acquire self- respect. It is a win/win project."
A sage once taught that a human being is like a letter of the alphabet -- to produce a word, it must combine with others. For the lives of the elderly to have meaning there must be encounter and involvement. Only through such relationships does life display the fullness of its potential for depth and beauty.
Bernard Baskin is Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Anshe Sholom in Hamilton and a frequent contributor to this page.
© Copyright 2007 Metroland Media Group Ltd.
June 8, 2009
CANADA: Reflections on old age
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HAMILTON, Ontario / The Hamilton Spectator / Opinion / June 8, 2009
Successful aging retains the quality that only old books, old wine, old friends can give
By Bernard Baskin
The Hamilton Spectator
Observations and witticisms about old age are ubiquitous. There is no escaping mortality, but evidently we can talk and laugh about it.
George Burns at 95 was asked what restrictions old age had imposed upon him. He replied, "I don't buy green bananas anymore." Fred Astaire said that old age is like everything else, to make a success at it, you've got to start young.
Hugh Downs, American TV host, confessed, "I've always thought that the stereotype of the dirty old man is really the creation of a dirty young man who wants the field to himself." A Pennsylvania German proverb teaches that if you pull out a grey hair, seven will come to its funeral.
There are a few areas of the world where people are said to live the longest: In the Ecuadorian Andean mountains, in Hunzaland in the Pakistani Himalayas, and in the Caucasus Mountains of Russia. Residents of these remote areas live in high altitudes, breathe clean and healthy mountain air and engage in vigorous daily exercise.
But the true secret of their longevity includes a positive outlook on life, the ability to deal with stress and emotional upheaval and to benefit from a nurturing and stable extended family. They are made to feel needed, useful, vital and important.
But perhaps, most important of all, the secret of their longevity is found in their loving and being loved. They flourish in communities where people really care about each other.
A psychologist at Boston University has done innovative research on the subject of unselfish love. He found that caring for others without concern about benefits for oneself is closely related to good health and longevity.
As Hamlet said, holding in his hands, a skull, "To this favour we must all come." The reality of our lives is that as time goes on, if we can't find meaning and value in our later years we reveal that our earlier years were hollow as well.
What is disheartening for the elderly - like myself - is the passing from the scene of classmates, congregants, colleagues and friends. The ties to the past grow weaker and the future is a template of dwindling days.
In Oliver Goldsmith's play, She Stoops To Conquer, Hardcastle says to his wife Dorothy, "I love everything that is old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine, and I believe, Dorothy, you'll own, I have been pretty fond of an old wife."
Successful aging not only retains the kind of quality that only old books, old wine, old friends can give -- it also brings a seasoned wisdom to which the young can not pretend without betraying their youth.
When Socrates was brought to trial for corrupting the young and was sentenced to death, even those who condemned him were appalled at what they had done. They connived in a plan for his escape. But Socrates demurred. He said, "I have lived my whole life in dedication to the principles of justice and truth, and shall I now in the short time remaining to me destroy the significance of all that has gone before?"
In many ways, it is the old that are to be envied by the young. They have so much less to lose that often they are capable of much more dedication and commitment to the values, ideals, and principles which provide meaning to all our lives.
Rabbi Gunther Plaut of Toronto concludes his wise and helpful book, The Price And Privilege Of Growing Old, with the assurance that we who are old deserve to be seen for who we are: individuals who don't want to spend the rest of our days as society's offal, discarded and delegitimized.
He writes that most of us still have much to give. Rescuing our potential from thoughtless waste and making it available to all will be a common benefit. "The young will learn from the exercise -- and the young will acquire self- respect. It is a win/win project."
A sage once taught that a human being is like a letter of the alphabet -- to produce a word, it must combine with others. For the lives of the elderly to have meaning there must be encounter and involvement. Only through such relationships does life display the fullness of its potential for depth and beauty.
Bernard Baskin is Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Anshe Sholom in Hamilton and a frequent contributor to this page.
© Copyright 2007 Metroland Media Group Ltd.
Successful aging retains the quality that only old books, old wine, old friends can give
By Bernard Baskin
The Hamilton Spectator
Observations and witticisms about old age are ubiquitous. There is no escaping mortality, but evidently we can talk and laugh about it.
George Burns at 95 was asked what restrictions old age had imposed upon him. He replied, "I don't buy green bananas anymore." Fred Astaire said that old age is like everything else, to make a success at it, you've got to start young.
Hugh Downs, American TV host, confessed, "I've always thought that the stereotype of the dirty old man is really the creation of a dirty young man who wants the field to himself." A Pennsylvania German proverb teaches that if you pull out a grey hair, seven will come to its funeral.
There are a few areas of the world where people are said to live the longest: In the Ecuadorian Andean mountains, in Hunzaland in the Pakistani Himalayas, and in the Caucasus Mountains of Russia. Residents of these remote areas live in high altitudes, breathe clean and healthy mountain air and engage in vigorous daily exercise.
But the true secret of their longevity includes a positive outlook on life, the ability to deal with stress and emotional upheaval and to benefit from a nurturing and stable extended family. They are made to feel needed, useful, vital and important.
But perhaps, most important of all, the secret of their longevity is found in their loving and being loved. They flourish in communities where people really care about each other.
A psychologist at Boston University has done innovative research on the subject of unselfish love. He found that caring for others without concern about benefits for oneself is closely related to good health and longevity.
As Hamlet said, holding in his hands, a skull, "To this favour we must all come." The reality of our lives is that as time goes on, if we can't find meaning and value in our later years we reveal that our earlier years were hollow as well.
What is disheartening for the elderly - like myself - is the passing from the scene of classmates, congregants, colleagues and friends. The ties to the past grow weaker and the future is a template of dwindling days.
In Oliver Goldsmith's play, She Stoops To Conquer, Hardcastle says to his wife Dorothy, "I love everything that is old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine, and I believe, Dorothy, you'll own, I have been pretty fond of an old wife."
Successful aging not only retains the kind of quality that only old books, old wine, old friends can give -- it also brings a seasoned wisdom to which the young can not pretend without betraying their youth.
When Socrates was brought to trial for corrupting the young and was sentenced to death, even those who condemned him were appalled at what they had done. They connived in a plan for his escape. But Socrates demurred. He said, "I have lived my whole life in dedication to the principles of justice and truth, and shall I now in the short time remaining to me destroy the significance of all that has gone before?"
In many ways, it is the old that are to be envied by the young. They have so much less to lose that often they are capable of much more dedication and commitment to the values, ideals, and principles which provide meaning to all our lives.
Rabbi Gunther Plaut of Toronto concludes his wise and helpful book, The Price And Privilege Of Growing Old, with the assurance that we who are old deserve to be seen for who we are: individuals who don't want to spend the rest of our days as society's offal, discarded and delegitimized.
He writes that most of us still have much to give. Rescuing our potential from thoughtless waste and making it available to all will be a common benefit. "The young will learn from the exercise -- and the young will acquire self- respect. It is a win/win project."
A sage once taught that a human being is like a letter of the alphabet -- to produce a word, it must combine with others. For the lives of the elderly to have meaning there must be encounter and involvement. Only through such relationships does life display the fullness of its potential for depth and beauty.
Bernard Baskin is Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Anshe Sholom in Hamilton and a frequent contributor to this page.
© Copyright 2007 Metroland Media Group Ltd.
