Wednesday, 23 May 2007

Old Age

"Wisdom doesn't automatically come with old age. Nothing does - except wrinkles. It's true, some wines improve with age. But only if the grapes were good in the first place. "
Abigail Van Buren, 1978 US advice columnist (1918 - )

Yesterday was a day of meetings.The idea of experience cropped up more than a few times. The automatic assumption is that experience comes with age. Of course, this may or may not be true. It all depends on the individual (though, all things being equal, an an older person is more likely to be more experienced). You can have 30 years' experience or you can have 1 year's experience 30 times. Age, in itself, does not necessarily convey as much as we might assume.

Physically, aging does have an effect, but this can vary wildly between individuals. The grandmaster of Taijutsu - Dr Hatsumi Masaaki - is 76 years old, but few would survive in a fight with him. My grandfather lived to the age of 93 when he died suddenly; prior to that, it was virtually impossible to keep up with him. And there are many other examples. What makes these individuals "defy" aging? Well, they simply keep active.

Mentally, aging does have an effect as we are losing brain cells constantly. However, this can be compensated for by building more connections between brain cells, which an older person would have had more opportunity to do. So the mentally active person does not suffer the effects of aging on a mental level; there are countless chess players who would testify to this. And, in cultures where older people are revered and empowered, they resist the mental pull of aging much better than those in cultures where older people are cared for. You use it or lose it.

So the challenge is to cultivate the habits that will sustain us as the years go by, habits that will avoid the degradation effects of neglect. We must not neglect our bodies and we must not neglect our minds. Practicing a martial art and playing chess are just one habit couple - there are many more...

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