The Misapprehension of Age

Recently, I came up with this:

Age is an organic construct, not a mechanical nor a celestial one. Therefore, it is inappropriate to measure one’s age by the ticking of a clock or the revolution of a planet around a star.

I've heard that my little aphorism has gained some attention. It reflects that people wrestle with their inner and outer perceptions of age and how they compare themselves to others today in our culture as well as historically. We look at our elders and think of how we would like to look and feel better than they when we reach their age, and yet we miss the larger point that it is not about looking and feeling one's age, but looking and feeling good. Period. There may be a correlation with the calendar, but with statements circulating such as "40 is the new 30" one has to ask why we should care.

The baby boomers have redefined culture again, this time around aging, and they will continue to do so over the next few decades. We can watch as the largest demographic bubble breaks many statistical limits of age and health.

I feel it is time to relieve ourselves of the shackles of calendar age. Get rid of birthdays while we are at it. Take the RealAge test. Do what it says to improve your health. Age may remain a metric, but it should take its rightful place among other metrics that only doctors and nutritionists care about.

With what should we replace the concept of calendar age? How about stages of life. Perhaps a simple five-stage model would suffice. One may be a child, an adolescent, a young adult, a mature adult, and a senior adult. No clear line would exist between categories, of course.

Calendar age defines so much about us in the public sphere. Yet, would it not be more appropriate to determine age and maturity on a case-by-case basis, as individuals? We all recognize that calendar age varies wildly with mental and emotional states. Does not the metric actually detract from the real problems that exist among people? Think of the driving or drinking ages as examples. Any reasonable person recognizes that capabilities among individuals at every stage of life vary considerably.

Even if the rejection of calendar age does not occur among policy makers, should we not adopt a more healthy and dignified characterization of age for our culture? To misapprehend the concept of age as a mechanistic metric rather than an organic stage or psychological state of a person is disingenuous. Even an insult. Perhaps a prejudice?

A Fable

I was speaking the other day to a friend’s teenage daughter about “weirdness” and not being “normal”. Here is what I said:

Let’s go way back. Imagine that there is this tribe in a forest. The forest is a frightening place. Full of monsters and unknown powers.

Now, there are all kinds of people in our tribe but let’s focus on a few. There’s the woman who is in the middle of the tribe who is saying, “let’s stick together!” “No need to venture out into the forest. It’s dangerous!”

There’s the guy at the gates of the village who watches people coming in and out. He says, “The forest is okay as far as I can see. Some exploration is acceptable.”

Then there’s the hunter or adventurer who launches into the forest for food and just to see what is out there. He says, “Hey, come on, everyone, there’s opportunities everywhere!”

So the chief sends out three explorers into the forest.

The first returns, bursting through the bushes, and announces, “I have found this plant! When you rub it on your skin, it heals!”

The second returns, out of breath and panting, “I found this other tribe! They want to trade!”

The third returns, consternated. The chief asks, “What did you find?” He replies, “I found something called a fence. And on the other side of the fence were roads and cars and airplanes. We need to get our shit together!”


Okay, there are several points to this story.

One, there is value in the forest;
Two, don't be afraid to explore;
Three, don't cross the fence and cause a traffic accident.

The final point is this: whatever puzzles you solve, whatever conflicts you face and resolve, whatever worldview you share, you never know what is on the other side of the fence. It may be nothing, or it may render archaic all your big ideas, schemes, systems and structures. To discover oneself an anachronism is to awaken.

Thanks to M. Night Shyamalan and "The Village" for inspiration.

The Best and Brightest

One of the guiding principles of leadership is to surround yourself with the best and brightest individuals you can find. Barack Obama understands this principle and leverages the talents, passion, and political capital of others to make real change. Change should be based on egalitarian principles of merit, inclusiveness, and alignment. Authentic leadership lets go of ego and role and instead focuses on collaboration and collective intelligence. This is why Oboma can transform America and provide an example for other leaders in government and industry to emulate.

The Process

There is probably a process one goes through when launching one's tongue into or onto the blogosphere. I'm going through it. I'm going to do something a bit different, I'm going to tell you how I feel. The reason for this gets back to a new KM model I came up with last week that mirrors Maslow's heirarchy. But that's for another time, and is on my other blog. What I want to do is say how I feel. Because that's what its all about. So she says.

I feel good. I feel like a bonehead for not doing this sooner, and wasting your time for writing things like "I feel good."

I do recall a sentence from Stephan King who made sure his butt was in a writing chair regardless of whether he would pen anything that day. Those of us who read and write can take comfort from each other in this solitary activity. In this Age of Irony (or Irony Age), it is the lone typist who changes the world.

Forthcoming blogs will be more "meatier." (sounds of crunching fingers)

Urban Humor Mashup

Creativity lives on, even in - or especially in - the most unlikely places. Take urban transportation. I recently received by e-mail a set of funny photos - artist unknown - of creative ads and graphics on everything from city buses to plastic hand carries. I see it as a form of urban beautification through commercial art that helps remind us of the absurdity of postmodern living. And its good for a laugh. Enjoy.



Please add a comment if you know where these originated. Props.

Oh, but that is my music. I wrote it. Copyright: me. Thanks. Ha.

Tap...tap...tap... is this thing on??

Greetings and salutations.

As an inagural piece of prose, I felt I should start with something literary, like the line from T.S. Eliot's "The Wasteland" referring to modernity as "a heap of broken images."

[Pause for dramatic effect.]

Collectively, you and I and all the other youse and eyes are creating this broad know-where we call the web. Will it remain a bastion of expression that offers a brave new lens to each inquisitive interloper? Or, will it devolve into a wasteland of insipid vermin, boneheads, and dusty gems? The answer is, of course, that it depends on all of us making the right choices that matter most to the vital lifeblood of this medium. Every day consider your actions and whether or not they cultivate the web or suck it dry.

"Trust thyself, every heart vibrates to that iron string." - Thoreau

Please feel free to post a note and share your views. Trust your spirit and let your imagination flow like a river. As time plods along, I will be adding stories and ideas and will attempt to honor your attention. For blogs related to management and organization, please see my other blogspot, Amplified.

Thanks for visiting, and remember: When you feel like flaming, first flame thyself. Then perhaps we can all lower the temperature of this desert of the real.