On Age
Published on Feb聽4, 2015 (updated Feb聽5, 2024), filed under misc. (Share this post, e.g., on Mastodon or on聽Bluesky.)
Age is wonderful. Aging is wonderful.
Age is wonderful for in a life reasonably lived, in a life not exclusively spent idly or hedonistically, age signifies the accumulation of experience and knowledge, and perhaps even wisdom.
The fears that people have about age are unfounded: It is not at all given, it is not at all said that one gets sick or senile. The great danger with these beliefs, rather, is for them to become self-fulfilling prophecies. Our beliefs about age, as about any matter, are important.
The fears that people have about age make matters even worse: They push the elderly, our elders, into a corner, a corner we then lock up and don鈥檛 want anything to do with. Of course, this adds fuel to our fears: We don鈥檛 want to be in that corner ourselves.
What we need is a new thinking about age that goes beyond medicine as curing more ailments, ailments we ourselves may have talked ourselves into. What we need is recognize that one can be healthy at an old age, too. And we need to value and cherish the accomplishments and the wisdom of our elders. All which will build up new positive thrust, for the better we treat our elders, the better we鈥檒l again fare ourselves.
[鈥there is no reason to pity old people. Instead, young people should envy them. It is true that the old have no opportunities, no possibilities in the future. But they have more than that. Instead of possibilities in the future, they have realities in the past鈥攖he potentialities they have actualized, the meanings they have fulfilled, the values they have realized鈥攁nd nothing and nobody can ever remove these assets from the past.
鈥擵iktor Frankl: Man鈥檚 Search for Meaning (1946).
About Me
I鈥檓 Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I鈥檓 an engineering lead, guerrilla philosopher, and indie publisher. I鈥檝e worked as a technical lead and engineering manager for companies you use every day (like Google) and companies you鈥檝e never heard of, I鈥檓 an occasional contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and I write and review books for O鈥橰eilly and Frontend Dogma.
I love trying things, not only in web development and engineering management, but also with respect to politics and philosophy. Here on meiert.com I talk about some of my experiences and perspectives. (Please share feedback: Interpret charitably, but do be critical.)