Getting older, not old
Age is a state of mind
Tim Wilson
I like to say that I may not be able to do anything about getting older, but I refuse to get old.
However, while age may only be a number, there are a lot of numbers out there that won’t let me forget I’m getting older.
A big one is 50. That’s 50, as in half a century. Used to be that anything that was half a century ago was way before my time. Anyone who was around 50 years ago seemed ancient.
This year for the first time I can say that 50 years ago I was in high school. Yikes!
When I started high school, 50 years ago was 1922. It was the middle of Prohibition and people were doing the Charleston, going to speakeasys and watching silent films. To a high school freshman in 1972, those things were part of the “olden days”.
Now I have an idea of high school kids’ impression of the class of 1976: We are REALLY, REALLY OLD.
I’ve been alive longer than most of today’s adults. That means there are more people forty years younger than me than forty years older than me. A lot more.
I guess that’s why I’ve discovered that from music, to movies, to TV, I am not part of the target audience.
I am apparently the target audience of every lowlife scammer using mail, emails, texts, or phone calls to take advantage of people they hope are doddering old fools.
I no longer wonder about something 50 years from now – I won’t be here.
I’ve used cutting edge media, toys and technologies that have come and gone:
Eight-track tapes, cassettes, VCRs, Walkman music players, floppy discs, filmstrips, transistor radios, View Masters, cap guns, click clacks, paddle ball, Silly Putty, Polaroid cameras.
I’m older than many colleagues’ parents.
I have t-shirts older than some of my doctors.
I reached the age where I was older than the president – and that was 13 years ago.
The year I was born was closer to the end of World War I than today is to the end of the Vietnam War.
I was born closer to the 1918 influenza pandemic than to the start of the COVID pandemic.
In many ways, the science fiction of my youth is the reality of today. I give you the Star Trek communicator – aka a cellphone.
I’m old enough to be the father of today’s greatest athletes – even the GOAT.
I’m older than many coaches or managers in the NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB.
More and more of my childhood sports heroes have gone to their great reward, and I don’t mean a Hall of Fame.
If I was still playing in the Over the Hill Soccer League, I’d be in the oldest age bracket.
The evidence is overwhelmingly undeniable: I am older.
But I remain determined to not get OLD.
In my opinion, old is a frame of mind. Older, like age, is about a number. It’s a measure of time passing.
I cannot control how others see me or how they perceive me as I age. But I’m in charge of my mindset and how I approach life.
I refuse to get OLD. Hold my beer and watch.
About the author: Tim Wilson is a lifelong resident of Massachusetts. He is passionate about his family, Marquette University, bicycling and all Boston sports.
#gettingolderNotold
Great article!