THE WISDOM OF THE AGED

One time when my Mom was in her nineties and going to the doctor, her PCP told her that there were some things wrong with her that could be treated. When she asked him what would happen if she did not, he told her that she might get dizzy and fall. She replied, “I’ll take my chances.”

Arlena’s Mom, who is almost 97, goes to her PCP on a regular basis and is always told she needs one kind of exam or another. She never has them done. Her reason? I’m not paying for that hospital’s new building.”

The wisdom of the aged. Most people think that when we get older, we lose or minds. Yes, that does happen. Our minds do slow down, not so much because we are getting older or because disease sets in. It is because we have so much experience stored in our brains that it sometimes seems we forgotten something rather than the fact that it takes just a little longer to retrieve it – like it does when our computer’s memory is almost full.

But it’s all there: all those experiences we have had over the years, experiences that make us smarter than those younger than we are, the ones who question our sanity. We learn not only from or experiences but also, and more importantly, from our mistakes. One of the great parts about getting older is that we can own up to our mistakes and readily admit them.

Yes, many of them were the results of being young and foolish, something that the present young and foolish are reluctant to admit. Some of them were the result of honest mistakes and, again, something those younger than us often reluctant to admit. They seem to think, as we once did, that we should be embarrassed by our mistakes and failures when what they were were learning experiences. If we did not learn from them, it was our own damn fault and for which we ultimately paid the price.

We learned. We became wiser in the process. We learned that our PCP may find something wrong with us and lots of medicine and tests and even procedures might, just might, make our lives a little better, but we’ll pass and take our chances. We’ve lived a good life and are thankful. A classmate who is a now-retired orthopedic surgeon says that after 70, everything is grace, namely life itself.

We aged people, and I can say “aged” even though Arlena’s Mom still considers us kids, have a lot of wisdom to share with those who are willing to listen. We have been there and done that as they say. We are proud of our successes, embarrassed by our past foolishness, thankful that we survived them and grateful for our undeserved blessings.

And even though I don’t think I am old, I readily admit that I am a lot older than my mind wants to admit. That, too, is grace.