It only comes with age...Archive!!!

It only comes with age!
How do you know when you get older? Do you suddenly wake up one day, realizing you know it all or didn’t up until that moment? Do you suddenly slow down and have to rely on a stick? Is your musical preference referred to as dated on the hip music channels or does the average age of everyone around you fall a good five years short of yours?
Recently at work, my new team leader Emma announced her upcoming birthday and subsequently her age. She would be turning twenty. Twenty! I didn’t know what to make of it. Even though I might just be a couple of years past that, I don’t even remember what it is like to be twenty, I mean, is it legal? If prior to that moment I had felt like a spring chicken, then my transition to papa cock complete with the waddle was done. The funniest part of the episode however, was the reaction of the other members of my “team”. A completely multi-cultural group of mostly young people, the sense of resentment I got at the mention of such a young age was shocking. Why? And is that such a daft question?
Across the country and the weekend before, I had gone up to London to see the musical les misrebles with family friends Eniola and Funmi. As we chatted noisily and strolled down Shaftsbury Avenue, the issue of age came up once again. This was understandable as Eniola had a birthday coming up the following weekend and the truth is she would be turning an evil age. We came to the conclusion that we had all gotten old and a new generation had come to conquer, of course, it all felt better when we slagged off the younger generation’s bad taste in everything! As the artistry of the cast played out in front of me during the show, my mind drifted back to the conversation I’d had with my friends earlier. This whole issue of age and growing old surely must be a thing of the mind or possibly the impact of the society we’d found ourselves in.
My conversation with housemate Sean two nights ago seemed to drive home the point about the changing times and one’s advancement with age. He was of the opinion, that younger was better in terms of a partner that is. End of! Of course I disagreed vehemently, champion of the aging that I am. Despite our two hour argument and Sean’s recount of his past liaison’s to drive home his point, his mind was made up; And if I am to be totally honest, same as most red blooded men in this world.
In the run up to the Oscars, British actress Kiera Knightley complained of the ageism practiced in Hollywood, to my annoyance. Wake up honey; it’s the very same thing back home in merry old London! The events of the past week prove this to considerable effect. Coming from a society where age is revered and welcomed with almost reckless abandon, this reversal of roles of perceived good and bad comes as a shock to me. Something I find very difficult to comprehend. Does this however, explain away the seeming success of this society as opposed to the more traditional system of the developing world? Can what the developed world have be best described as success in the first place? As much as I hate to admit it, I am beginning to sound like silly old toad that, way past his middle age has resorted to slagging off the up and coming. With this suddenly realized emphasis on youth as a measuring cup in this part of the world, I can only ask myself “what’s in it for me?” Am I scared? Yes, do I think my prospects are greatly reduced? Yes. Do I think I am crinkly and old with faded looks? Not on your life baby! But seriously, in an ageist society such as this; how am I meant to compete with a freckle face nineteen year old fresh out of the baby making machine! Not only am I black and African but old too?
Feminism mostly argues that gender, race, age and class are social constructs and I agree completely. To survive and succeed in today’s world, you have to be ready to get dirty and play it as it comes. Most importantly, you must be prepared to do your own thing; this thing not necessarily conformist to societies' mechanics. And how have I learned all of this? Only with age of course! One thing society cannot argue with is the natural ability humans have to learn with time, a vital ingredient of success. So despite having a nineteen year old supervisor at work, friends who are somewhat fearful of the certainty of life or a need for young blood apparently inherent in my gender; I can carry on to my destination knowing that my journey is not one of dire straits but one of my own construct. and the most important factor? I can only get there by getting old, or can’t I?