AGE : the unsung hero

I turned 60 on July 12 and I had a blast - birthdays are the best! A new beginning, the cycle of life completing its circuit of 365 days around our Sun. 

Each year is a bonus and a blessing and yet few people look forward to ageing. Added years are equated with growing older. So focused on old, few are grateful for the growth. Why is that?

My maternal grandmother died in 1964 and my mother was 31 then and I was ten. My childhood memory captures them as way older than I'm feeling today. Why is that? 

Here in the USA, the government has an administration on aging, a national institute on aging, and the Center for Disease Control tracks the state of aging in America.

The AARP organization offers citizens 50 years and older helpful tips, networking, and support even if the official retirement age is 65. They even have a whole branch dedicated to disrupting aging.

Why do we focus on keeping age at bay when aging is the ultimate gift not too many end up blessed with?

Are we so occupied with running away from it that we are not around to live our lives fully? What would it take to be present in our own lives? In order to truly live well and fully? 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tambanokano | the titan crab

Image
Belief in giant monsters eclipsing the moon and efforts to frighten them away are widespread throughout the Orient. Found all over Asia — in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Mongolia, China and India — these ancient stories were spread through trade routes with the expansion of the earliest empires. The folklore of Bisaya and Mandaya indigenous tribes of the Philippines tell different tales of a giant moon eating crab they call Tambanokano . Crab_king by noah-kh / DeviantArt Tambanokano the crab was the colossal son of LiAdlao, the golden orb of our sun and LiBulan, the silver sprite of our moon. They were two of four siblings born to LiDagat, the sea and LiHangin, the wind. Long ago in a tiny village of Buglas, the cloudless night sky was illuminated by a bright flash of lightning. Buglas is the fourth largest island in the ancient archipelago we now know as the Republic of the Philippines. As the ocean waves crash violently along the shore, smashing
Read more

a different country

Image
" If you white men had never come here, this country would still be like it was. It would be all pure here. You call it wild, but it wasn’t really wild, it was free. Animals aren’t wild, they’re just free. And that’s the way we were. You called us wild, you called us savages. But we were just free. If we were savages, Columbus would never have gotten off the island alive. Our religion is all about thanking the Creator. That’s what we do when we pray. We don’t ask Him for things. We thank Him [Her]. We thank Him for the world and every animal and plant in it. We thank Him for everything that exists. We don’t take it for granted that a tree is just there. We thank the Creator for that tree. If we don’t thank Him, maybe the Creator will take that tree away... We are made from Mother Earth and we go back to Mother Earth. We can’t “own” Mother Earth. We’re just visiting here. We are the Creator’s guests. " Leon Shenandoah , — former “Tadodaho” of the Grand Council of the Six Natio
Read more

#IamWithHer

Image
Having gone through the trauma of past failed elections and their ridiculously fatal results for my homeland the Philippines, the US 2016 elections mean all the more to me as this is now the land I call home. Lest we lose sight of the importance of w hy this election matters, here are some truly valuable and valid points - borrowed from my sister,  Angelica  Berrie : For Filipino Americans like me, this election offers a historic opportunity to make a difference. Putting the first woman in the highest position in our country is a game changer, just as voting for President Obama was a game changer.   Hillary Clinton brings a consistent track record of public service, fighting for issues that touch our lives; healthcare, children, families, women, and immigration policy. A respected bipartisan Senate leader  and globally recognized world leader as Secretary of State, I trust her to make the difficult decisions that will impact our country. I want to see this first woman
Read more