The Irrational Denial of Being Old
Mar 19, 2020 20:10:21 GMT -5
Post by Radrook Admin on Mar 19, 2020 20:10:21 GMT -5
The irrational Denial of Being Old
There is a certain delusion which makes some people feel that they cannot be considered old by persons who are older than they are. Is that really so? Is it really impossible for an eighty-year-old to consider a sixty-year-old or even a fifty-year- old as being old? Of course it isn't. One might be old but one still notices when another person has reached the old age stage in life. Sure, the person might be younger than we are-but that does not in any way make him young. Older boxing fans certainly do notice when younger boxers are grown old. I am older than Duran and notice that Duran is now old. I am sure that George Foreman noticed when Hopkins hit old age since it was very obvious from the way he looked in the last fight. Those who are much older than the Cuban Boxer Ortiz such as Bob Arum also notice that he is aged. Nothing impossible about it.
I am writing about this because yesterday I encountered this fellow at Rite Aids whom made the claim that only younger ones would call him old. Now, please note that I am supposedly his senior by 23 years. Yet, I immediately perceived him to be in his late sixties although he claims to be fifty. In short, I had absolutely no difficulty noticing the tell-tale characteristics which indicate an old man. After all, why should I? My eyesight is intact. I see the paunch, grey and balding hair, the facial sagging and everything else that indicates advanced age. Yet, he finds it psychologically impossible to admit this and imagines tat those who are older than he is will forever see him as young? Strange idea, but totally understandable as part of the way in which some humans strive might and main against the reality of the inevitable!
BTW Chronological vs Physical aging
Seeing this fellow looking so physically devastated at that relatively younger age did not surprise me. In fact, I have seen far worse. I have seen them claiming to be 50 while looking eighty. If these claims are indeed true, then the only explanation is that chronological aging doesn't necessarily coincide with the physical one. Chronological aging is the aging the we measure by how many times the earth has orbited the sun since we were born. Physical aging is how aged we have become during that time. You see, some persons who reach the age fifty look as if they are still in their late thirties as I did. Others look like they are in their early or late sixties at that age like this fellow I met yesterday does. I guess it has a lot to do with genetics and how we have lived or lives. In any case, our ability to differentiate between the young and the old does not suddenly change simply because we lived long-term earth someone else.