A friend of mine here in town is in his early sixties, and looks about that. He told me that people treat him differently now that he's "old". For example they will put his change in his hand in the supermarket!
I think this is remarkable, because this guy is both mentally and physically as fit as me, perhaps more so. And when I look at him, that's what he looks: fit and sharp. And yet it seems many people see white hair and see "old and feeble". Isn't that weird. Very poor perception.
I had a great aunt who at 98 was in better shape than people in their 40's. Sharp as a tack too. Age is just a number invented to sell candles.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the fact that cashiers put the change directly in a person's hand has anything to do with age. In the United States that's how it's done. When in France I have to remember not to extend my hand because French cashiers want to place the change on a non-flesh surface. That has been my experience.
ReplyDeleteWell, it's a change for him.
ReplyDeleteLeviathud: at 98, really? Sounds incredible.
"Very poor perception."
ReplyDeleteIt's called "social prespyopia"... :-P
Getting old starts in the mind.
"at 98, really? Sounds incredible."
My sweet Granny is 88, and still a regular barrel of dynamite. You should've heard her, last Sunday, getting fired up at that moron of a Pope and his statements on condoms and Aids!
"Is his job about condoms? Are they any of his business? What does he know of condoms? And if he doesn't know nothing, let him go ask the nuns how it works, they'll explain it to him! I say this pope has completely lost it. He should be locked away in a retirement home, with diapers on his behind. Some days I envy your poor granfather, he died without seeing all these horrors."
And she's a very pious woman, too. But you can't serve her no nonsense! She knows a moron when she sees one. :-)
And before TC makes a suggestion, it's already accounted for: my very first novel will have a character modeled exactly after her. Hey, I've got a high sense of family! :-)
ReplyDeleteJust don't tell Granny, she might veto it, doesn't want to become a center of attention or anything. So let this little spoiler stay between the few of us who visit this blog, OK?
Not that I disagree with nana, but hasn't the catholic church *always* been anti-contraception?
ReplyDeletePascal [P-04referent] said...
ReplyDelete"And before TC makes a suggestion, it's already accounted for: my very first novel will have a character modeled exactly after her. Hey, I've got a high sense of family! :-)"
Alright, Pascal! That sounds like a wonderful person to start with! :-)
"Just don't tell Granny, she might veto it, doesn't want to become a center of attention or anything. So let this little spoiler stay between the few of us who visit this blog, OK?"
Right, Pascal; your secret is safe w/us! :-)
P.S. - Please tell her that I agree w/her thoughts on *his* stand on the condoms and AIDS issue. Completely nutty, I thought, too! I'd question whom he really needs to go consult w/too but...I'm going to convey that thought to you *telepathically*! :-0
That's right, you'd better NOT disagree with Nana, or she'll put you over her knee.
ReplyDeleteI suppose the Vatican isn't so much anti-contraception as it is pro-fertility, ever since the Old Testament. That retrograde mentality that the strength of a religion relies on its numbers... probably in case you need a few millions for a holy war.
Hadn't even thought of that.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting how oldy-timey religion is so pro-fertility. I'm not saying it's wrong, au contraire, but it just seems to me to be out of their jurisdiction.
Age is just a number invented to sell candles.
ReplyDeleteNo, it isn't. A 98-year-old who is in better shape than someone in their 40s just means that the 40-somethings you're talking about are spectacularly out of shape.
There's definitely a decline.
Pascal wrote: I suppose the Vatican isn't so much anti-contraception as it is pro-fertility, ever since the Old Testament.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny. When there is conception, it's basically one sperm out of billions that makes it. The Catholic church doesn't care about the billions of "potential lives" that die every time a guy blows his load inside some chick's tight snatch. (Or if they're good Catholics and the woman's had 16 kids already I guess maybe not so tight.)