From FOCUS ON THE FAMILY
TODAY • Friday • June 13, 2008
By Dr James Dobson
I’m sure you’ve noticed that the world seems to worship youth and fears getting old. But there was a time when age was associated with wisdom and experience. In fact, some of the greatest accomplishments in history came very late in life.
Immanuel Kant wrote one of his best philosophical works at the age of 74. Verdi penned his classic Ave Maria at 85. Alfred Lord Tennyson was 80 when he wrote Crossing the Bar. Michelangelo was 87 when he completed The Pieta, his greatest work of art. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes set down some of his most brilliant opinions at the age of 90. Titian painted his famous Battle of Lepanto at the age of 98. And Ronald Reagan was the most powerful man in the world at 75.
Generally speaking, older people today are healthier than ever before and anything that squanders their talents is foolish. And while we’re on the subject, it bugs me a little that television advertisers are only interested in the younger set. Isn’t a tube of toothpaste sold to an 80-year-old just as profitable as one pitched to a child?
This notion that life should be winding down at 50 or 60 years of age is crazy. I’ll bet the baby-boomers agree with me. They set the world on its ear when they were children. They’re not going to go limping off the stage before they absolutely must, nor should you or I.
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