"The Best Is Yet To Be . .
Written by North Carolina's b«*sl-kno\% n oc¬
togenarian. this meditation on old afgo is
upbeat reading for any age.
lift SAM J. ERVIN. JR.
(Former Senator Sam J. Ervin.
Jr., of Morganton, N.C.. wrote
this meditation on old age as a
foreword for the beautiful book
" A Celebration Of The 80s",
which contains pictures and
sketches of 62 men and women of
the age of 80 years and beyond by
the gifted Nancy Rica Schiff. The
book was published about Sep¬
tember. 1983, by Harry N. Ab¬
rams, Inc., Publishers. New
York. The author uses this
meditation for his own purposes
with the consent of Harry N. Ab¬
rams, Inc., and quotes Rudyard
Kipling's beautiful poem " When
Earth's Fast Picture Is Painted"
with the permission of Double¬
day and Company. Inc., the rep¬
resentative in America of the
poem ' s copyright . )
This extraordinary book presents
portraits of people who have witnessed
many events and who may be thought
of as old. Hence, it is not amiss to use
this space for a meditation on old age.
written by one who has endured for
more than fourscore and six years.
Old age has claimed the attention of
philosophers and poets since language
was invented What they have said on
the subject ranges from the melan¬
choly observations of William Shake¬
speare’s character Jacques in the last
scene of As You Like It to the joyous
words of Robert Browning's character
Rabbi Ren I
/га
as he extends this in¬
vitation to his contemporaries:
Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be.
The last of life, for which the first
was made ....
The most impressive panegyric on
old age. in my judgment, was written in
150 B.C. by Marcus Tullius Cicero, the
eloquent and wise Roman orator,
politician, and writer. His essay on old
age. Cato Motor oi De Senectute. is
available to us in its oi iginal Latin or in
English translation. In opening his dis¬
course. Cicero, speaking through the
character Marcus Cato, says:
THE STATE JULY 1984
Men who have no resources in
themselves for securing a good
and happy life find every age
burdensome. But those who look
for all happiness from w ithin can
never think anything bad which
nature makes inevitable. In that
category before anything else
comes old age. to which all wish
to attain, and at which all grum¬
ble when attained.
These are the four complaints of old
age: ( I ) Old age withdraws us from ac¬
tive employments: (21 Old age enfee¬
bles the body; (3) Old age deprives us
of nearly all sensual pleasures;
(4»
OKI
age is the next step to death.
No one can gainsay that time ordi¬
narily exacts a heavy toll on those
whose lives are long. Since there is an
exception to every rule, a few rare per¬
sons arc exempt from payment of this
toll. For example. Moses the Lawgiver
"was a hundred and twenty years old
when he died: his eye was not dim. nor
his natural force abated.”
For many years I have undertaken to
cultivate a philosophic mind to enable
me to confront old age and the sunset
of life with calmness and courage.
However, before sharing my philoso-
SomJ Ervin, Jr
Ко»
returned to the proctice ol low in
hit native Morgonion. but to
о
greet many friend»
and admirer» throughout the country he xiil olwoy»
be "Senator Som “
phy with you. I wish to make a few
observations. The worth of a life is to
be measured by how it is lived, not by
the length of its years, months, or
days. As Philip James Bailey declared:
NVe live in deeds, not years; in
thought, not breaths; In feelings,
not in figures on a dial. We should
count time by heart-throbs. He
most lives Who thinks most —
feels the noblest — acts the best.
The complaints against old age arc at
war with the truth proclaimed in
Ecclesiastes: “To everything there is a
season, and a time to every purpose
under the sun." Cicero elaborated
further on this theme in his essay on
old age:
The course of life is fixed, and
nature admits of its being run but
in one way. and only once: and to
each part of our life there is
something specially seasonable;
so that the feebleness of children,
as well as the high spirits of
youth, the soberness of manner
years, and the ripe wisdom of old
age — all have a certain natural
advantage which should be se¬
cured in its proper season.
At the same time there is more than a
modicum of truth in the complaints
against old age. Fortunately, however,
they do not reveal all of the truth.
Physical strength, which is a prime
characteristic of youth, does diminish
w ith the passing of years. Hence, old
age weakens our bodies, deprives us of
some sensual pleasures, and decreases
our capacity to engage in physical ac¬
tivities.
Youth is designated by nature as the
time for triumphs of the body. By ab¬
staining from physical vices and living
temperately, one can exterid the dura¬
tion of his physical strength and the
time for his bodily triumphs.
As the years come and go and physi¬
cal strength abates, evenhanded na¬
ture gives to those who are aging some
consolations for w hat time takes from
them. In the words of one poet: "Time
still, as he flies, brings increase to her
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