November 1962

home I had some three hours to my- 1. I think the first thing to do is to self. Several questions now kept face the facts of life early and realiscoming back to me, “Are you de- tically. These facts are simple and pressed? Why are you not depressed? well known. The course of life is pre- Maybe you should get depressed. All dictable and the span is definitely the causes that accounted for that fixed: man’s depression are manifest in a-There is a relatively short you. I could even add to his list of period before one is born. decline and at a much more acceler- b-The human being is born as ated rate. Why didn’t the idea of old an utterly helpless infant. age and death depress me? Why does c-The first four years of life it depress some other people?” are marked by rapid development These are serious questions and and growth. we should not ignore them. My train d-This is followed by eight of thought began to parade across years of slow growth, adjustment to my memory a train of pathetic the social life of the family and de- ENCOUNTER WITH OLD ACE people, people who were not only depressed by the thought of growing velopment of habits that regulate behavior as well as ideas and attitudes. by Reverend Mounir Sa’adah old but were terribly, almost patho- e-Then there sets in a period Facing ahead makes the past seem richer logically, preoccupied by the desire of quickening growth and developand the future more welcome to maintain an appearance of youth. ment, the period of adolescence oc- They dressed like the young, they cupying the years from twelve to HISweek I went to a neighboring he said. “That is why I asked you the twenty. T city to attend a meeting. I arrived for my appointment early, so I question. How can you manage to keep from being depressed?” spoke like the young and their general behavior was not suitable to their age. There is nothing as paf-Twenty to eighty is the period when a person is mature, occupied my time reading. As I sat “But what depresses you?” I in- thetic as seeing a person at fifty try- functioning at full capacity. there, I felt someone place himself quired. ing to act as if he were twenty-five. g-At eighty a process of rapid beside me. I took no notice of him. “Why, old age. I feel it creeping They have grown up but have not decline sets in and ends in death. When I had finished reading the ar- upon me in leaps and bounds. My put away childish things. The very Why does the decline set in? Why ticle I replaced the magazine on the hair is graying rapidly; my memory memory of these people was depress- does death follow? The secret of the table. The man who was sitting next is not dependable; my eyes don’t ing, and I caught myself just this side decline and death is not known. How to me, taking advantage of the inter- seem to see as well; I grow a little of depression. Whether we try to is this process clocked so accurately lude confronted me with a sudden heavier every year; and I cannot do cover up our age or whether we try throughout life? We do not know. and completely unexpected question, the things I used to do ten years ago, to forget about it makes no differ- But we know that there are two dis- “Are you depressed?” he inquired. It is depressing to think how one de- ence. It always catches up with us. tinct types of cells in the body: those I looked at him. He was in early clines as he grows older. And then Surely pretending to be young, that are continuously being renewed, middle age, around sixty to sixty-five, the dreadful thought comes to me forgetting about old age, or getting such as the skin, and those that are neatly dressed and generally well repeatedly: ‘One of these days you depressed by it are not the right re- not at all renewed, like the brain kept. “Not specially,” I answered. will die.’ ” sponses to the problem of aging. cells. In other words there are self- “Why? Do I look depressed?” The time for my meeting arrived Then what should a person do to age replacing parts and parts that are “Not at all, quite the contrary,” and I had to leave. Driving back joyfully? absolutely irreplaceable. As these

irreplaceable parts wear out failures he grows older to become preoccu- wish to tell, “I am still at work, with behind me. It is before me still, and begin to occur, first slowly and then pied with his pains and infirmities, my hand to the plough, and my face daily I catch glimpses of its battlein a more rapid succession so that, if to become absorbed in his own to the future. The shadows of eve- ments and towers. The rich spoils of one docs not kill us then the other memorics and experiences, and to ning lengthen about me, but morning memory are mine. Mine, too, are the does. cut himself off from the living cur- is in my heart. I have lived from the precious things of today-books, Thesc are thc facts of life: decline rents of life. His time, freed from the forties of one century to the thirties flowers, pictures, nature and sport. and death are part of them. There is routines of a regular job, becomes of the next. I have had varied fields The first of May is still an enchanted ‘ a beginning for our earthly life and disorganized and is whittled away in of labor, and full contact with men day to me. The best thing of all is an end also. the trivia of life. There are human and things, and have warmed both friends. The best of life is always 2. Thc second fact to face is that relationships to be developed, post- hands before the fires of life. further on. Its real lure is hidden each stage in lifc has its duties and poned curiosities to be satisfied, serv- “The testimony I bear is this: that from our eyes, somewhere behind , ices to be rendered. , compensations and must be lived on the Castle of Enchantment is not yet the hills of time.” its own terms if it is to yield its full For some time one has to work harvests. To carry the habits of in- hard to stem thc trend to withdraw. fancy into adolesccncc, or adoles- He will need a great effort to kcep cence into adulthood, or adulthood himself interested and “in circulainto old age is to miss the joys of tion.” There are still great harvests each of thesc phases of life. Dawn, to be gathered, but he has to go out noon-day sun, sunset! Spring, sum- and gather them. There is nothing as mer, autumn. satisfying in life as to cngage in ac- Man is always reluctant to leave tivity for no other reward than what thc tricd and familiar. Change is joy one can gct out of it: growing often a threat and a danger. The un- flowers, developing friends, reading known cvokes fear. But then, life books, listening to music, relaxing that does not move stagnates. We silently and going to bed with the must learn to disengage, let go and knowledge that if the morrow comes move on. Reluctance is only an ex- one can fill it with whatever the whim pression of gratitude for opportuni- demands without any compulsion. ties and joys. They are like the 4. The fourth fact is that while maiden’s tears as she departs from onc is young one has to prepare himher parents’ home only to enter the self for old age. It creeps upon us fuller joys of her own home and her while we are not aware. Fill your life fellowship with her husband. with abiding and lasting interests. As one grows older he mellows, Live deeply and well every moment sobers. Every day, every moment of life. My guess is that the depressed becomes precious. There is so little old man never learned how to livc time left. meaningfully and in a fulfilled way. 3. The third fact is that one ought Perhaps a quotation from Sir Wilto keep developing creative and posi- liam Mullock, Canadian statesman tive interests that draw him out of and Jurist, made by him when he was himself. It is natural for a person as ninety-five years old, will say what I