STAYING IN THE GAME!
The eagle, a lonely sentinel and skilled predator often traverses the skies which may not offer an immediate prize but he keeps flying. It is a game of life relying on attention, focus and following rules. Does this sound familiar ? This is neither passive observation or rifling through the pages of the latest banal utterances of social canon but engagement with existence. We all play the game but few get to stay in it eternally. Does this have anything to do with aging?. If we could talk to the eagle we would have a clue. If you are a showboat then you are in a bind.
The pandemic knocked the stuffing out of social interaction and communal activities. We should have become couch potatoes with bellies bloated with sourdough bread. The clothes and in particular the shoes people wore were a bit of an abomination. Bereft of live cultural entertainment, the masks were not conducive to sitting through a play or listening to opera. Most people in my town gave it a pass binging for hours on netflix till the lines begin to blur on their own lives. Still it was gamesmanship of the oddest kind. It was done and then we got out to the virus free existence nobody remembered who or how many died. Perhaps it was culling the herd we mused privately and booked a holiday.
I am a boomer and my friends range from late thirties to late eighties, two astonishingly hovering on the doorstep of nineties. All of them without exception are in the game with the exception of some of the 30-40 crowd who shockingly display sloth like inactivity and over all lack of vigor. I accuse them of being utterly boring and threaten them in mock ferocity that I shall dump them.
“You are not my speed” I say to one.
“Come on . You are an exception and you don’t even look your age” he whines.
“And what does this age mean?” I am honing in for the verbal joust.
“You are not like those old people who don’t do anything”
“Sweeping statement which is based on lack of knowledge and bad taste. “
I pick up my purse and keys
“ I am off to my favourite bar to have a martini and flirt with men. Bye. “
“Yeah lets go. Probably more fun than here. ,” he jumps up from his chair
“You are not invited, you may cramp my style, Bye”
Anti-aging in all ways is the all time secret pre-occupation. This is called beating the odds. Not saying ‘uncle’ and continuing. Every malady has dozens of websites where physicians of bizarre stripes mount videos and then sell a miracle solution. The excitement heats up your virtual screen as do the jars of face cream which will put a dent in your bank balance but never seal the fine lines appearing in your face.
Miss Haversham, from Charles Dicken’s novel ‘Great Expectations’ shows how staying in the game can look like. Jilted on her wedding day she remains in her wedding dress with the wedding cake rotting on a table in her room for decades. However flanking this mania of sorts she conceives fresh plots for the people in her life, making and breaking their destinies at will. Her hair had turned white but the colour was not leeched from her agile mind.
A beloved friend partial to his exercise regimen said recently.
“I cycle for one hour and take my heat-beat to 150. I intend to be the fittest person in the cemetery”.
We both chuckle as he downs his beer and I sip my martini. We are in the game but want to know the latest on everything. We consult Dr.Google and out think our doctors.
Substack was suggested to me six months ago by a renowned female author and a younger pal in London England who claimed that the money her subscriptions generated paid her household bills. As authors who only feast for a few weeks when an advance comes in and then switch to the ‘poverty diet’ this was an exciting prospect .
“A place for you to scribble in between your books.”
Naturally, the freedom appealed to me. The discipline of writing kept me in the game and ten people actually became paid subscribers. So now I am dutybound to write for them. I consider this to be my responsibility to my readers. Little do they know they are helping me stay in the game. I love it.
What is the real meaning of this game apart from engagement with life?. If anyone has seen images of retirement homes the contrast reveals how by not staying in the game , identity, vitality, intelligence and physical agility simply vanish. The decline of physical or muscular strength is the result of life in industrialized societies. Very few have to walk a few miles to collect water and then walk back. Food supplies are driven home, delivered or put into wheeled carts. Roads are straight and hills are planned out for an even path. The legs and arms are the first to reveal lack of strength. It is not all Arthritis but sedentary life styles. If something hurts it is not moved. Work through the pain is the new mantra. Movement is the key ingredient of staying in the game.
The Fitness gyms of today reveal how a much younger crowd now seeks weight training to keep muscles stretched and stimulated. It is an attempt at staying in the game longer. Dance is movement accompanied by music. It should never be given up. There is no point in waiting for a street festival or a wedding to dance. By then the body will forget the moves. It is not like riding a bicycle where body memory will kick in. Dance in your living room as though you are in a Broadway musical.
Images of the sage philosopher reclining to read or the monk seated in meditation play the oldest game and that is of teaching the mind to play a robust game. They never give it up. The millions of yoga studios flowering in cities of the world are a testimony to staying in this game. Chess players get a chance to play the game adroitly.
The societies we have created fuss about Senior Citizens. This is wonderful where it is necessary but the down side is that a category has been created which becomes a bias in the minds of younger people. It is a mistake to think that a person of advancing age has to play a different one. Men in their late seventies are becoming fathers. Within the sexual domain, desire and arousal are age proof. Thank heavens for that.
“All the worlds a stage and the men and women simply players”. is the pithy line penned by William Shakespeare.
The video games popular amongst adolescents are exciting and highly imaginative. The players are adults as well. In the game of life the same rules apply. Adventure, riddles and strategies are an ancient seduction. For ladies with wobbly knees who are thumping around in orthopaedic styled shoes, pull out the high heels which are in the back of the closet and wear them for a short while. If you need to be braced a little find the man wearing a fuschia colored shirt and cling to his arm like ivy. Post Barbie the world is pink and that is the name of this and other games. Nothing is age specific it is participant related. If I see you on the roller coaster i will scream as loudly as you.