Re: An attempt to entail youth and senescence

Hey Judith,

Here's another one, "Youth is wasted on the young and money is wasted on the old." Do you ever grow weary of versus relationships? Young vs. old, man vs. nature, man vs. man, male vs. female, man vs. himself, etc.

I read an author once who asked, what is it about peace that makes it such a difficult story to tell?

David

----- Original Message -----

From: Judith Rosen

To: ***

Sent: Monday, August 22, 2005 7:38 PM

Subject: Re: An attempt to entail youth and senescence

David Macy wrote: In my mind it is not the fact that we age and die that is striking. We all grow old and die, big deal. What strikes me is that we live as long as we do.

This reminds me of a Star Trek character in the fourth series spin-off (the one after DS9, I can't remember the name of it at the moment. The one with the lady Captain)... The character I'm referring to was a species who only live for about a decade. I can't remember how she got on board the ship-- I think she was a stowaway, but she was stuck being hopelessly lost in that unexplored quadrant of the universe just like all the rest of them and she was the only one of her kind. So, her entire life, which was about a third over at the beginning, was going to be spent away from her culture, her people, her chance at "a normal life" (whatever that means). I found it really poignant that she was trying to comfort her newfound friends when they realized she was only going to live another 5 or 6 years. The humans thought it was so short it wasn't enough time and she shrugged and smiled at them and said; "It makes us cherish each moment."

It's really true that, as Bonnie Raitt said in a song, "Time gets mighty precious when there's less of it to waste."

Judith

----- Original Message -----

From: David Macy

To: ***

Sent: Monday, August 22, 2005 3:31 PM

Subject: [ROSEN] An attempt to entail youth and senescence

Hey guys,

Time for me to do some ante. I don't overly concern myself with the metaphor that life is a game, but if it is, then it's a game of strip poker in my view.

The fact that Robert (I don't know a more appropriate name to call RR in this venue) concerned himself with senescence is just more proof, in my opinion, that this was a man who concerned himself with longstanding and profound problems and questions.

How long have we, mankind, been haunted by thoughts of our own mortality? Apparently we haven't even been the only intelligent species on Earth to have done so. I have heard that even the Neanderthals buried their dead with flowers. Who wouldn't sip from the fountain of youth were it made available to them?

In my mind it is not the fact that we age and die that is striking. We all grow old and die, big deal. What strikes me is that we live as long as we do. The explanation for our longevity that has most appealed to me to date is recourse to maybe two or three facts. We humans are to an unprecedented (locally) degree dependant upon our ability to adapt for survival. Adaptability is our niche. We have and extensive childhood and accompanying vulnerability. We are social creatures.

The upshot of all this is that the old of today, who once relied upon the old of their youth for guidance, are now depended upon to guide the youth of today. The implicit and the explicit are commingled.

Give me a little time and I try to put it in If... Then... form.

David