Marcus Tullius Cicero reminds us that life is fleeting. It is a race that is fixed where nature always wins. Aging does not discriminate nor does it play favorites. Each and every soul will face old age and Cicero argues that one’s ability to embody happiness will predict whether he or she will embrace old age eloquently (Watson, 1951: p. 262). Every stage of life presents its own season filled with challenges, victories, struggles, and pleasures. Cicero says, “Each has its own abundant harvest to be garnered in season” (Watson, 1951: p 263). We must learn to reap the fruits and pleasures of each stage of life. Cicero wrote in his essay regarding old age:
“Life’s race-course is fixed; Nature has only a single path and that path is run but once, and to each stage of existence has been allotted its own appropriate quality; so that the weakness of childhood, the impetuosity of youth, the seriousness of middle life, the maturity of old age – each bears some of Nature’s fruit, which must be garnered in its own season” (Watson, 1951: p. 262).
Cicero wants to encourage us that we should not cling to youthfulness while approaching old age, as this will harbor resentment. Instead, he argues, embrace old age because it is the commemoration of life. It is the grand finale. Old age is rich with wisdom that can be passed on to youth, in exchange for their joy. We must look onward eagerly, putting in place not only money but also the hobbies and friends that will facilitate happiness in old age. Self-expression and exercising the mind will keep the mind and spirit young. In addition, Cicero argues that we must pursue health with the same vigor as if we were fighting a disease (Watson, 1951: p. 262).
In Western society, people are always in a rush. We overuse the word “busy” because our lives are filled with being “busy” but we find that we are never truly accomplishing. Or rather, the things that fill our “busy” schedule sometimes are not the things that we truly value. We prioritize social acceptable goals of grinding for the American dream over attending our child’s sports practice or pursuing a hobby that produces zero economic value. Evidently, busy has become a badge of honor that we wear proudly. When someone asks us how we have been, the generic response is “busy.” Sometimes we are so busy, that we truly forget to live and enjoy the fruits of the harvest of the particular season we find ourselves. With the increasingly amount of timesaving tools, it is ironic how we have become more and more busy as a society. Evidently, then, it must be due to a cultural perception. In our individualistic society, our sense of time inevitably must be skewed. We have more time than ever due to technological advances; however, a paradox emerges; we are busier than ever. Could it simply be attributed to the aggressive pursuit of the American Dream that we so earnestly cling to in our search for happiness? We are constantly fed the paradigm that it seeps into every aspect of our life. We begin to believe that time is money. We must be busy or we are not actively pursuing the American Dream. Therefore, we are not actively pursuing happiness.
For the greatest shame would be getting to the end of life and realizing that we never truly lived or reaped the fruits of our harvest because we were simply just too busy. Without putting in place the proper hobbies to occupy, it comes as no surprise that seniors have the highest suicide rates (Bennett, 2017). What does one do when their whole life was spent pursuing the American Dream and staying busy is no longer busy? Ironically, we have entered the age of time poverty. The problem is especially highlighted as experts are calling elderly suicide an epidemic. Canadians that are 65 years+ have the highest suicidal rate at for any group across the nation (Bennett, 2017).
We must take the time to put in place hobbies and nurture friendships that will facilitate some of the richest years of our life. Being busy should not be a badge of honor. Society’s paradigm is reinforcing this busy paradigm, forcing us to rush through the stages of our life without taking the time to truly appreciate them. I believe that it is time that we slow down and enjoy the simple pleasures of life, at whatever stage we may find ourselves in.
Christina
References
Bennett, R. (2017, September 6). How Do We Stop the Elderly Suicide Epidemic? Retrieved on November 30, 2018, from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-do-we-stop-the-elderly-suicide-epidemic_b_59b0439ce4b0c50640cd641f
Watson, L. E. (1951). Light from Many Lamps. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.