The concept of growing old…

I am scared of tomorrow. Tomorrow I turn 25. In case that didn’t register, that is Twenty-Five. By any measure of time, twenty five years is substantial. I mean it is more than a percent of time since Christ arrived and we started counting straight. What I also mean is that the ‘boyhood’ I have cherished for so long, would have to be foregone. The temporal island free of responsibilities, of not caring, of living in the moment, of pure indulgence would have to be left behind. A large number of unanswered questioned would need to be accepted as unanswerable. The dreams of limitless possibilities would need to be crystallized into a bracket of feasible options. No, I would not stop dreaming. Just the dreaminess behind the dreams would decrease.

The problem with birthdays is that they will come once every year whether you like it or not. Whether you are ready or not, come March 10th and you’d have grown up by a year. It is like each year you are running against time to grow as much as your body surely will. And what does it really mean to grow by one year? How do I judge whether I’ve over-performed, under-performed or just justified one year of temporal growth. Have my perspectives broadened enough for a year? Have I gained a yearful of responsibility, maturity and rationality? Have I made these years count in my overall existence? The concept of age doesn’t answer these questions.

I think a time dependent age is not the best idea. It is good for medical science but that is mostly it. It is the experiences that should add to your age because those are the ones that really add to your maturity. In such a world up till some age, say ten years the age would be the same as your biological age. From then on age would be purely based on your experiences. Getting into a real relationship would add a year to your age. Breaking off from one would add two. A selfless good deed would add a month. A first success would add half a year and a success after failures would add a whole year. Fighting a handicap would earn you years and standing by a closed one in his illness would also add years.

Imagine how useful the concept of age would be in this new world. A world in which age does signify maturity and being young is all about energy and passion. It would be much more meaningful in this world to let people above eighteen drive and people over twenty-one get married. The age becomes your guide, your motivator and measure of a way of life. Where the age of your death really tells you how you’ve lived.

And it would be fun as well. More so because this would require some people would actually get younger with time. I mean Britney Spears would certainly get a year knocked off her age the day she shaved her head. Careless drivers would become young enough to get their licenses revoked. And Bryan Adams for all his youthful exuberance and his undying belief in true love would finally remain eighteen till he dies. It also leaves you with a tantalizing fantasy- if we all forgot our ages would we still grow old?

So this is my idea. A ‘meritocratic’ concept of aging. It would not be practical I agree. Such an age would not be easy to discern and I know it is never going to be feasible. But it is one thing that would keep me from turning twenty-five. Till then I will try and find solace in the aphorism "You are as old as you think you are".