La Tercer Edad is a phrase often used in Spanish meaning the third age of life. There are similar phrases in English but they generally emphasize the losses that come with aging. A Wikipedia article on aging summarizes as follows...
Old people often have limited regenerative abilities and are more susceptible to disease, syndromes, injuries and sickness than younger adults. The elderly also face other social issues around retirement, loneliness, and ageism, concluding "it is clear that always and everywhere youth has been preferred to old age." In western thought, "old age is an evil, an infirmity and a dreary time of preparation for death." Furthermore, death is often preferred over "decrepitude, because death means deliverance".
The article then lists dozens of physical and mental limitations that come with aging, but does not mention any benefits of aging. The Golden Years are short and with a foreboding dread of suffering and deterioration. Throughout my life, I have seen it that way. The aged in the United States are put away in poor or wealthy institutions. They are seen as useless, demented and unpleasant reminders of the fate waiting for the young.
Since moving to Mexico, I have learned that there can be another view. Here, and perhaps in other cultures, the aged are loved, respected, and even revered. Entire families walk together in the parks at the pace of the oldest. Just today on a collective bus, everyone stopped and gave aid to a very old woman who slowly climbed down the narrow steps. Her daughter and granddaughter stepped out and held both her hands. The rest of us passengers were not impatient with her decrepitude, but deeply admiring of her character and dignity.
I learned that in Mexico La Tercer Edad is a term of genuine respect and affection. A person of that age has wisdom and perspective. The third age is a time to pass the labors of life to the younger and stronger, and to teach the lessons of life to the grandchildren. Even after death the elders are sought for in the cemetaries throughout the night on the Day of the Dead.
I have felt here that same kind of respect and affection, even as a foreigner. I am seventy years old, and I have learned, I think, many things in that time. Here, people assume I have intelligent opinions and useful knowledge. In the United States, I usually feel old and in the way.
La Tercer Edad in Mexico is the time for making sense of the first two thirds of your life. I decided to adopt the concept and that is the reason for this blog. I have thoughts and ideas that I think may be useful and perhaps even wise. Before beginning the blog I have accumulated lists of those ideas ... hundreds of them. Now, here, in the third age of my life, I will try to put some of those ideas into words.
I think about the beauty of the culture of Mexico and will say much about that. I think a lot about societal progress, especially what the United States can learn from other cultures. I think about the core nature of rationality and morality. I wonder if we can make civilization better than it is. These days I think a lot about American politics, but currently those thoughts are more emotional than rational.
I plan to write a couple of pieces a week and chip away at that long list of ideas that have intrigued me through my first seventy years. My purpose is to pursue if not capture dignity and some wisdom.
