A June 27th, 2023, Wall Street Journal article entitled "Everyone in South Korea is about to get one or two years younger", written by Martin and Yoon, caught my eye.
I'll come back to that in a moment.
Another article, a dear friend sent me, as we both lost a parent at a relatively young age;
In the Opinion section of the Wall Street Journal titled "My father's child is turning 65 " by Sollich, dated June 15th, 2023. Please check this out, as I won't do it justice.
It talks about the child in us. My friend and I both lost a 57-year-old parent.
We continued to feel childlike in many ways.
Following are some excerpts from the article:
"Here I am a few blinks later turning 65"; the same age the WSJ author lost his father.
"And now I realize how young my father was when he died. That he craved all of the joys and temptations he always had. That his insecurities hadn't expired because he reached a certain birthday. The voice inside his head was still youthful and rebellious: that time, in all its trickery, lets old people walk around forever young inside their core selves, immune from life's chronology.
That is profound!
As we look back being very young, we could do a lot every day, challenge, grow and develop. And there was a lot we could not do but sure wanted to; drive, drink, go off to school and military etc.
The bar kept changing at every stage and every age. Our senior citizens (I can only speak for one) can do a lot, have done a lot and may want to do a lot.
Some things may be out of reach, as they were at every age, we have excelled and had limitations along the way mentally, physically, socially and spiritually. We got through it to look back with satisfaction, perhaps some regret, pride, accomplishment and likely setting a new bar or standard for the future.
Now, to the first article I mentioned.
The South Koreans apparently had started counting age when conceived and then everyone gained another year at the beginning of the calendar year, so, as they go to the actual date of birth as we do, they could recapture 9 months up to two years and turn younger as a matter of record. What would that do for our psyche, attitude to revert to a decade earlier perhaps, 50's to 40's, 40's to 30's?! Think of the boon to the greeting card business ....
So, reflect, evaluate, dig into it with your perspective, current surroundings and pick the age you want, with its limitations, opportunities and adventures.
Turn your own clock or calendar back or forward.
Make the most of it, be grateful and don't let anyone else tell you differently!