With Age Comes...

Our society discriminates against the elderly. Western cultures do everything they can to prevent aging including purchasing expensive creams, buying hair dyes, getting Botox or surgery, you name it. On the other hand, most other cultures believe that age is a good thing. Old age is a sort of "right of passage" into whatever one believes is beyond this life. Other cultures respect their elders and take care of them, instead of putting them into retirement homes. What has made such a difference between cultures? Is it because we, Americans, are afraid of death when others accept it? In Tuesdays With Morrie, Morrie, for those of you who haven't read this (undeniably amazing) book, is diagnosed with ALS and knows he is going to die. He shows such wisdom and acceptence towards age and death while many of us run away from it. He says that everyone knows they are going to die, they just don't believe it. There is so much truth is this statement. We have been told since birth that we will die one day, yet none of us actually except it until we are forced to. I think we should all be like Morrie and learn to come to terms with death and stop being afraid of getting older.