Renew Your Character
[A friend recommended Baltasar Gracian's The Art of Worldly Wisdom. Gracian was a Spanish scholar of the 17th century who set forth a series of maxims for ethical action. From time to time I'll write about one of his maxims.]
Gracian argues that our disposition changes every seven years and that we should let it change for the better. He illustrates his point with animals. For example, he says that at 20 man is a peacock and at 60 a dog.* Without commenting on his examples, it is clear that we should seek change for the better. It is also clear that we do change over time. It may not be as regular or predictable as Gracian suggests but change certainly occurs.
With age comes infirmity; we can slow the arrival of weakness but we cannot eliminate it. But wisdom also comes with age. Experience comes with age. Resilience is not eliminated by age. How do we take advantage of the positive side of aging, how do we renew our character so things are better as we age and change? These questions are important because ageing can be purely detrimental if we let it be.
It's now obvious to most people that the first priority is taking care of our bodies. Without good health, without maintaining the most strength we can, other things don't matter as much. But we also need to take care of our minds. It's a cliche that older people need to keep their minds active to avoid memory loss, slow thinking, other mental problems. However, we also need to put our minds to good activities: Doing crossword puzzles is enjoyable but not very productive. We need to find things to do that make us feel good about ourselves. We need, perhaps even more than when we were young, to help other people, to find some way to make the lives of others better. It gets harder as we age but it doesn't become impossible. It might be a child who needs direction, it might be a co-worker who needs assistance, it might be a friend who needs advice, it might be a counterperson at a diner who needs a thank you, but there are people we can help no matter how old we are.
Equally as important, we need to maintain our moral strength. As we age, it becomes easier to remain passive in the face of wrongdoing, it may conserve energy to ignore injustices, our experiences may lead us to see things in gray rather than black or white. But by setting a good example, by intervening when we can, our very age may make it easier to encourage others to do the right thing.
Don't give up. Take care of yourself as best you can. Try to improve your life. Help others. These rules, although especially important as we age, are valid for all of us, at any age.
______________________________________
*I've been trying to understand what Gracian means by the dog analogy but I've failed. If a reader knows what he means I'd appreciate an e-mail.
______________________________________
6-28-04
Home Page 2004 Archives 2003 Archives 2002 Archives 2001 Archives 2000 Archives 1999 Archives