The Challenge of Aging…

“Whatever poet, orator, or sage

May say of it, old age is still old age.

It is the waning, not the crescent moon;

The dusk of evening, not the blaze of noon:

It is no strength, but weakness; not desire,

But its surcease; not the fierce heat of fire,

The burning and consuming element,

But that of ashes and of embers spent,

In which some living sparks we still discern,

Enough to warm, but not enough to burn.

What then? Shall we sit idly down and say

The night hath come; it is no longer day?

The night hath not yet come; we are not quite

Cut off from labor by the failing light;

Something remains for us to do or dare;

Even the oldest tree some fruit may bear;

For age is opportunity no less

Than youth itself, though in another dress.”

The growing ever older is the only way of living life, and the possibilities of age are impellingly important. “. . . the arms best adapted to old age are culture and the active exercise of virtues.” “. . .so far from being listless and sluggish, old age . . . [should be] even a busy time, always doing and attempting something, with active exercise . . . and temperance . . .” The fact is, each part of life has its own advantages and disadvantages. Each has its qualities and conditions to be met and to be adjusted to, and into he lengthening years of life one should keep active, useful, and always in pursuit of some impelling interest, some good purpose, something that serves the present and looks to the future, without fear of passing days or of lengthening shadows, but with gratitude for what has been, for what is yet to be, and for the blessed assurance God has given that truth and intelligence and life and loved ones and purpose and personality are everlasting. And “. . . for . . . one [who] is so old as to think that he may not live a year . . . [let him plant] his trees to serve a race to come, . . .”