The poem “How Old Are You?” reinforces this idea that outlook is what determines our age.
Age is a quality of mind
If you have left your dream behind,
If hope is cold,
If you no longer look ahead,
If your ambition fires are dead –
Then you are OLD.
But if from life, you take the best,
And if in life you take the jest,
If love you hold;
No matter how the years go by
No matter how the birthdays fly,
You are NOT old
Years before we reach what we would call “old age” we determine whether that time will be a gracious and pleasant time or a time when we are rehearse life’s hurts with bitterness. The attitudes with which we invest our days now will characterize the days of our senior years.
“It is not how old you are, but how you are old.”
