Young Become Old and the Old Become Younger

The beautiful and intelligent Sanna Marin
Former Prime minister of Finland

There is a curious thing that happens as we age, the old become young and the young become older.  I know this seems odd, please allow me to explain.  When we are young we look up to those we understand.  Those that seem within reach.  Often they are young athletes or celebrities.  They are the idols that we hold and we admire their talent, ability and perhaps wisdom.  Suddenly, one day not so late in our lives a curious thing happens, our age surpasses them.  One day we turn on the television and that sports idol is suddenly younger then us.  With each passing day they look more and more like children.

The aged warmonger and bringer of death 
Vladimir Putin (Wikipedia)

As we progress through life we look at those older than us as the sources of wisdom and guidance.  They are the echos of thought and life experience that we trust.  We look to them for advice and in the world around us, seek their steady hand to make the decisions that need to be made.  As a historical and politically minded man I would switch on the Sunday news shows  and listen to panels of them discuss the topics of the day and suggest the prudent course to follow.  

One day a curious thing happens.  We sit down on that Sunday morning with our cup of coffee in hand and with a world in turmoil we seek a course of action.  We switch on the TV and the faces that we once looked up to are suddenly younger than our own, sometimes way younger.  Who are these children guiding us through the world?  Do they really have the knowledge that it takes?  The feeling is mildly unsettling.  

A process begins of letting go and building trust in a new generation of leaders.  Perhaps in their own lives they are looking toward us but who really knows.  Suddenly it hits us, the world is no longer ours.  Some politicians try to fight this.  We see this in the pathetic examples of aging men and women like Diane Feinstein, or Mitch McConnell clinging to power until their last breath. The people that refuse to admit that their time has passed.  Nancy Pelosi graciously admitted and stepped aside, Chuck Grassley has not.  The Senate seems to be a depository of such pathetic examples refusing to admit that the world has moved on.  

As an aging man I look around at the mess we have made of the world and the problems we will leave behind. The environmental destruction, global warming, hunger, instability.  War and craziness.  Intolerance and bigotry seem to always cling to our collective shoulders like bats hunting insects in the night.  Today when I look at those younger faces I find comfort.  Comfort that perhaps, just perhaps this new generation will do things a different way.  Maybe they will rectify the mistakes and problems we leave them.    A side of me pities them while another side is grateful that are arriving and quite honestly, it can’t come soon enough.