#IfYouReadOneThingToday - On Aging

We tend to spill a lot of ink on aging, the aged, and the implications of a population whose demographics continue to skew older. This is, of course, relevant and necessary, because if we're lucky enough we'll get to live long enough, and the more insight we have to help us navigate the journey, the better.

But narratives on aging so often seem to be from the outside looking in, written from an observer's perspective, if you will.

Rarely do we see the aged person's point of view. Rarely are they the ones wielding the pen - at least not as often as they should. And as I started to read the piece I'm sharing here, I felt ashamed that this was the case. Why indeed aren't these voices more prominent?

Mr. Angell, a longtime sportswriter and contributor to The New Yorker, was 93 years-old when he first published this piece in 2014, and his writing stopped me in my tracks. Powerful prose, of course, isn't limited to anyone of any age, but it feels especially poignant to read the first-person perspectives of a man who's lived well, lived long, and endured losses few of us could ever appreciate.

He is, thankfully, still with us, having just celebrated his 100th birthday.

I use the "must-read" adjective for articles all the time. But rarely is it as searingly applicable as it is here.

 

This Old Man

Life in the nineties.

By Roger Angell

The New Yorker

February 10, 2014