Our perspective on mortality changes as we grow older, and unconsciously that reflects in our language!
"How old are you?" "I'm four and a half!" You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key.
You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead. "How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 16!" You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16!
And then the greatest day of your life . . . you become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony . . . YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!
But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk. He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?
You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 . . .. and your dreams are gone.
But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would! So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.
You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday! You get into your 80s and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; "I Was JUST 92."
Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. "I'm 100 and a half!"
May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!
(email received Dec 15 2003, widely and wrongly attributed to George Carlin. Sounds like him but TruthOrFiction says nope
11 comments:
Right on with those comments. Except I am not sure I wanna go to a 100. :)
I don't care about age. Only my dream-machine -- the day it stops, the day I die, irrespective of age.
It's a great post and I would love to make it to 100.
Funny reflexions...
Few years ago in France a very old lady, (over 100 years old), she got a new tooth coming through...
The doctors were astonished...
Dear T.
I know exactly what you mean, i fell like that just 8 years ago when i was 10. Now that i'm 18 everything has change. I want to go back and fix the things that i did wrong.
-U.N
U.N.
What appears 'wrong' in hind sight may not have been a bad option at the time, and even if it were you are the wiser for it now.
interesting post and its so true,as we grow older we want to remain younger.I dont think I want to make it to 100 though.
I take each year as it comes.
I hope that if I reach 100 my memory will still be there so I can tell my great great grandkids stories about today.
people often cal me a kid even when they know i am 21 and a half...
I dont mind being a kid...
it lets me be excited about so many things... and every day...
irony is that all we want to reach is old age and that i think is the biggest limiting factor cause your journey is near end..
hilarious
Somewhere in all that goes on in our minds, youth seems to be the sweet band, the equilibrium that's sought forever, courtship and choice and everything that's woven around it. Because it's transient, maybe. If youth were forerver, one might want to age, desperately.
I can't even imagine how would things change when i am 30 and going on 40. Its so much fun now. The post was hilarious!! this reminds me of a hindi song "i am sixteen going on seventeen...."
Post a Comment