Watching other people grow older often isn't pretty but it can always be instructive.
I say other people, because it is extremely difficult to see ourselves. I notice, for example, that when I'm in an audience at a classical concert and look around, I'm likely to think, "Hmm, everybody here is older. Too bad more younger people don't come." Younger people like me is what I'm thinking. Talk about delusions!
Who hasn't said, at one time or another, "I don't want to be like my mother (or father) when I get old"? We usually mean, "I don't want to get set in my ways," or "I don't want to become boring," or "I don't want to look like that." But once in a while we catch a glimpse of ourselves in a mirror, and wince, because we see signs that we haven't escaped our deepest fears. Most of us look away immediately. Denial has its uses, after all.
So here is the Big Question.
