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Do you think your lack of God affects how you feel about the insults of aging? It's completely true that I would do anything to go back 20 years. I would use it better, knowing what I know now. I'm completely amazed to find myself looking hard at 68 ( due in 3 weeks ). Like David Byrne, I'm wondering " How did I get here? " This sucks. I think old is ugly. I'm also intrigued by the current mass attraction to the concept of Vampires. Hummmmm. Get turned and aging stops. All you have to do is drink blood, you don't HAVE to kill them. Killing is from indifference. Going way back to the fictional start of vampirism in Egypt, the Queen could hear the thoughts of the entire world. The barrage of input and the impossibility of turning it off froze her for thousands of years. My personal ability to listen to someone stupid ( let's say my Mother) express their thoughts is quite short. 20 minutes or so and I am ready to do the " Fight or flight " thing. Don't you think that if there was a God, our sniveling, whining, greedy, neverending requests and demands would have driven him off by now?

ForTheBirds 6 Feb 26
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51 comments (26 - 50)

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2

Hi....I hear what you say, and I live in a country where old age is a curse. I am 73 and there is nowhere to go, seeing that the government has withdrawn all support to old age homes, especially the ones that used to house white people.
Now, to the question of wanting to be 20 years younger: I definitely wouldn't want that for me. To go through the slog of battling to feed yourself and your family, face rampant crime and general lawlessness, to suffer illnesses without adequate public health care is not a scene I would like to face again.
To be a vampire is a cute thought, but that's all it is. Reality is much more cruel and heartless than a bite on the neck!
Just saying, you know?

2

I turned 70 last summer and I had been having some problems with my legs and feet. I started walking to see if I could get some of my mobility back and re-discovered my love of the outdoors. Then I found out that research indicates that what you do after age 70 makes more impact on your health and longevity than all that you have done up to then. I walked 5.76 km yesterday, carrying a 20 gauge shotgun, a couple of kilometers of it through woods, bog and dense brush in about a foot or so of snow. I wouldn't have been able to do that last year. I'm all set now to live longer and enjoy it as much, as my neighbour and distant relative, (the oldest man in Canada) Arnold Hawkins. I don't really care if I'm ugly, because I only shave once a month and I'm in better shape now and weigh less than I have in years. Just downsized my pants again last week. Look forward and do what you can to improve your future, is my advice.

Well done. Keep it up

2

Eternal life would be boring! I don't like watching reruns.

@Gwendolyn2018 Hey, maybe 500 years from now ya just might be a hooker. lol. Could be interesting?

@Gwendolyn2018 Talk to me dirty!

2

I think I try to be accepting of aging each and every day and try always to look for making each day be the best and most beautiful ever. Having said that I have to be honest and say there are things that suck!

gearl Level 8 Feb 26, 2020

Well stated . While we can't turn back the hands of time , there are things people have done for many ages to try to slow them down a bit . The ancient Egyptians prepared wigs , often made of hair from horses . Medieval ladies not only dyed their hair , but needless to add , wore corsets to try to reshape their bodies . Unfortunately , the lead based make up they wore to cover the imperfections in their faces , led to much shorter lifes spans , due to lead poisoning . Ladies make a point of removing facial hair to look younger , while men grow it to look verial . Spending long hours working out at the gym , can greatly improve your body shape , while starving yourself , can help to maintain a slender , more attractive looking physice . These days , you can buy laser resurfacing to reduce wrinkles and remove age spots . And yes , though these things are both expensive and painful , it's up to you to decide if it is even more painful and expennsive not to have it done .

@Cast1es I do have to give things thought whether they're worth it or not to me. Some yes, some no. Sometimes I just can't get around the pain and unresponsiveness of an old body. As long as the beauty of life outweighs the misery, I'll trudge on and enjoy the life I have.

2

What insults?? Aging is a beautiful and natural process allowing all living things to become the willing sacrifice that perpetuates future life. Life is an ever burning fire. Feed the fire.

beautiful?? i think there's a good reason why the sculptors just did "Davids" and not the old, ugly & misshapen.

2

I read that one of the old Babylonian gods, Enlil, I think, got so fed up with the noise humans were making, he sent a flood to wipe them out. I'm pretty sure they weren't hassling him with constant requests, just kicking up an awful racket! You didn't want to get on old Jehovah's nerves, either, for the same reason.

Is your mother still alive? If so, she must be a great age by now. Maybe you have many years ahead of you - enjoy!

1

To comment on the other part of your post, I think that if there were a god of the Christian ilk, then he would have created the universe already knowing what he was going to get and since he could have created it differently if he chose, he must have liked this one just fine. He would have to be the type of god to get a deep satisfaction from all the whining and greed, etc.

1

When one realizes there is no Heaven one begins to take better care of diet and exercise.

1

getting old sucks..bigtime.
since i was 72 i've had 2 serious cancers a heart condition & a broken hip. just found out last week that i'll need that hip replaced.
old age for the vast majority is a curse. each day we see/feel ourselves degenerate physically & mentally. how anyone can spin anything positive out of that is totally beyond me.
no doubt there are some like my wife's uncle who was very fortunate with his health right into his late 90s. but then his last few years were a living hell for him when he lost pretty well all his faculties & ended up in a care home.
sadly, shakespeare was right: if we live long enough we depart this world as we entered it, toothless helpless & mewling.

As the saying goes......Death is nature's way of telling us to slow down. 😉

1

I’ve always assumed I had to take care of myself and seek medical help when my body wasn’t well. I accept I’m getting older. I never had expectations of an after life. So far so good. I’m still able to run at age 70!

1

do your kid's sniveling, whining, greedy, neverending requests and demands would have driven you off by now?

Been there, done that. I speak to my youngest son only.

1

I don't enjoy much about aging, but I do my best to live as best I can and avoid having too many regrets.

Paradoxically I find my patience limited, but I am also making a point to be sure that I am thoughtful of others, and that includes being patient.

And I don't think being atheist has anything to do with any of this.

1

Old is not ugly to me. I'm 63 and I kinda like how I've matured. Youth has it's perks, but so does maturity.

1

Get used to it!

Complaining always upsets you and others around you!!!

You really do not have any choice in the matter of aging , getting old!!!

No buddy get out of here alive!!!

LOL!!!

Adapted from another's wisdom. I don't find rolling out of bed now, at 66, much different than I did at 16 years. Now getting up of the floor, that a completely different matter!

1

Insults on aging? Whomever does that is definitely a fucking moron because we all age every day, part of nature like death. I don't listen to morons.

1

I do not look back fondly at life 20 years prior not only because I was a religious but also because who was in my life at the time. I cannot say there is a time in my life where I look back and reflect positively on it.... yet. Who knows if I will live long enough for that to ever happen. That's my view. XD

your as close to old as our sun is to pluto lol

1

i don't know. i've been an atheist since i was 15. i wasn't religious before that anyway. so i don't have anything to go on.

g

0

In a word......yes. If, indeed, there was any sort of god that created this interesting, messy world he (like Elvis) has left the building a long time ago. 😉

0

"Do you think your lack of God affects how you feel about the insults of aging?"
Interesting turn of phrase "insults of aging"

Does the biological process of aging somehow possess the character of personality and mind required to give insult?

OR

Do you view the indignities of the process of aging as an insult to your humanity?

I do not see aging thusly. I see it as the evidence of our experiences writ upon our faces.

0

I like the idea of a supremely annoyed god! However, I suspect that if there is a Creator, it feels woefully inadequate and eternally sorry. As for turning back the clock, have you read David Sinclair's Lifespan: Why we Age and Why We Don't Have To? Sinclair presents reasons to believe we may in the not too distant future be able to reset the age clock--without becoming a sanguisuge.

0

Yes. My lack of a "god" allows me to understand that "natural" is overrated. Disease, your body wearing out, and dying by the age of 30 are all very "natural". Living to the age of 25 was about was all that was required for us to live long enough to have offspring, and then raise them long enough for the cycle to be perpetuated. "Nature" (evolution) is indifferent about providing anything more, and would be quick to have you and your species go extinct rather than provide more. We progressed to where we are by improving on what "nature" provided, and so we should continue to do more of the same if we value our time here and youthful function. And because there is no "2nd Act", I say game on to diet, exercise, medicine, stem cells, plastic surgery, and genetic engineering, whatever it takes, because "nature" and what's "natural" is not the highest standard or intrinsically good (or what some "god" intended), and we can improve on it.

0

Not really, except I'm not worried about hell.

0

Nah, i don't think much of it, yeah, arthritis is a bitch..
But never back 20 yrs. Lol its past, and at present i am very comfortable with my brain which takes precedence over my body...getting old really isn't a bitch unless your asking a dog, its a tad painful though and i bitch like an old female dog.... lol

0

You made me laugh, thank you.

0

There are many that are afraid to die. I certainly do not want to die, but belief in vampires or gods is not going to help.

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