Aging - A natural process

God had created human beings for a purpose then why must man has to go through the process of birth, aging, falling sick and finally die? Imagine what would happen if man never dies, the immediate problems I could think of are as follows though the list is not meant to be exhaustive:

1. The world would be over crowded, resources would be stressed by the consumption of food, waste disposal, housing , health care etc. Famine, environment and ecological problems, global warming, deforestation etc would drive the world crazy, nations against nations waging war to snatch the already thinned and limited resources.

2. Top positions of all organization, governments or private sectors would be held by the oldest guys around. Imagine what would be the political situation, if an immortal leader continues to over stay his welcome for another 100 -200 years or even longer!

3. There would be no fair and natural re-distribution of wealth because the smartest and the richest would continue to live and strive to keep their wealth for their clans and descendants.

4. All younger generations would not get a chance or a place, be it in career, social or even private life. All the pretty young women would go for the immortal, rich, experienced and elderly but healthy old men ( I am sure you young men would not like this idea!)

As we age, certain signs are obvious even though we could exercise, eat food supplements, dye our hairs, inject all kinds of hormones to slow down the aging process etc. We tend to feel we have lost the agility, forget things easily, and unexplainable pains or discomfort appear in different parts of our body, bones organs etc. A person could not hide his real age after some time, because the folds or wrinkles and contour of the face, shrinking of muscles, skin and the dulling of complexion plus greying of hairs betray us all. We have to accept the fact that God had created us to age and subsequently to make way for the younger generations to take over.

As we approach our retirement age, we have to change our plans and focus ourselves in the direction of educating the young, doing work that contributes to the well being of the country and serving the community. This kind of meaningful deeds could be made possible by virtue of our experience and knowledge that we gathered and learned over the years. We have to advise the younger generation on avoiding certain pitfalls that had taught us hard and painful lessons so that they would not repeat the same mistakes like us.

At one time when I was still having some grey hairs, I used to ask my wife and daughter to pull them out one by one. And now the greying is too rampant that I just have to accept for what thing is. Sometimes we have to be gladful because God has preserved us till this age and showered us with all His countless blessings big or small over the years. We hope to age gracefully before we meet Him face to face one day.