Skip to main content

over the hill and a long way down

I always thought I was pretty comfortable with the idea of aging. We all do it, even if our culture tells us we shouldn't. But a few days ago it struck me that my Dad was turning 60 (he actually turned 60 yesterday) and to be honest I kinda freaked. You see, If my Dad is 60 and the average male in North America dies at the age of 70, that brings my dad closer to dying then I'm comfortable with. Granted he could die like anyone else at any time, but getting older is a really good reminder of its immenent arrival. Death is a funny thing in our culture. It's both flaunted in our media as entertainment and hidden from society as a whole in institutions which deal with such things (old folks homes, hospitals, hospices, etc). This leaves many of us with an inorganic and slightly confused perspective on death. My reaction to it is similar to my reaction to air flight. Yes, yes I know its safer than traveling by car, but does that make me any less anxious about flying? No. Similarly knowing that I'll see my loved ones again and that death is hardly the end doesn't make it any easier to swallow in the present. I guess I hope my personal experience of death will be similar to my personal experience of flying...limited and involving being hopped up on happy pills!   

Comments

  1. ~mJuly 20, 2010 at 11:37 AM

    this may be small comfort, but remember that life expectancy is calculated at birth. once he's made it to 60, a man's life expectancy is probably closer to mid-80s.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Excursions in beautiful Riviera Nayarit!

Well it's been just over a week now since I got back from my vacation. When I look back it's clear that outside of the normal bumps of any vacation, it was a very pleasant one! My parents and I flew into Puerto Vallarta at around 4pm on Friday July 1. As we stumbled into the crowded airport and attempted to manuever our way through the throngs of sales people, the kissy faces of a number of Mexican men made me suddenly all too conscious of my "Kiss me I'm Canadian" shirt. Oh well, like anyone would dare try with my Mom nearby (she gives off very protective Mom vibes...I think it may be because she's very protective). Anyway after a run in with a sales man who had briefly convinced us he was our Sun Wing Rep, we managed to slump into a nice air conditioned bus that took us the 20 minutes or so to Riviera Nayarit and up to our Resort "Riu Jalisco". It took me a good part of the trip to realize that the "j" is Jalisco is pronounced "h...
1 comment
Read more

Community Theatre is Failing Women

I have grown decidedly more Feminist in my thinking over the years which has made enjoying theatre harder to enjoy lately. There are, of course, excellent shows with diverse and interesting female casts but more often then not, the female characters are flat and uninteresting. It seems like Theatre show creators, performers, and viewers are often more liberal than the average community of people but strangely, despite this, sexism is still rampant. Something I often think about when viewing TV shows and Movies is whether or not what I am viewing would pass the Bechdel Test. The Bechdel Test, for those who are not familiar, was created by Alison Bechdel in her 1985 comic, “Dykes to Watch Out For” and has become a well-known measurement of gender bias in movies. Basically to pass the test the movie must have three things: Two female characters (preferably named), Who talk to each other, About something other than a man. When I first learned about this test...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jonathan

I wanted to take a few minutes to write about someone who became very dear to me in a very short time. Jonathan and I had been exchanging regular e-mails asking each other everything about our lives and hopes and dreams. I tend to be a very private person (runs in my family), so I wouldn't normally share this much with someone I've only known for such a short time, but after reading his first few e-mails I found myself surprisingly comfortable with this partial stranger. Over the months of getting to know each other I learned about his past, his hopes for his future, and even the sweet little details like what he wants to name his first child. We talked theology, philosophy, literature, movies, and anything else that popped up. Eventually we made plans to get together and went out for tea at a local tea house. Despite live music that, though well performed, made conversation difficult, we talked and enjoyed our time together. We continued to dat...
2 comments
Read more