For a person of youth, what you see is their unlimited potential, their bright future and the boundless possibilities that life holds. There is an exaggerated estimation of their aptitudes.
We tend to draw a straight line from their birth to youth, and extrapolate the same trajectory indefinitely into the future. The lens of youth carries a halo effect, accentuating their strengths and diminishing any weaknesses.
The truth beyond the halo is that most young people will live an average and very normal life.
A small percentage will outperform, many will disappoint and most will fall within the mean, living unspectacular, unnoticed lives. Get married, have children, work, retire, travel and die.
The promises of spring and endless possibilities soon give way to struggles, time, and the loss of youth.
They lose momentum, the trajectory flatten, their daily lives settle into a routine of averages. Goals become more difficult to grasp. Dreams slowly fade. Failures, setbacks and random hardships force the once youthful prodigy to accept the life of the mean.
While the enthusiasm of earlier youth was understandable, the reality of outcomes often paints a nuanced picture. The vast majority lead ordinary lives. Some go on to extra ordinary things, but the vast majority fall within a normal distribution spectrum of failures, mostly averages and some exceptions.
The challenges of time and age force most to settle into a routine of normalcy.
The once bright “halo” of youth soon dims, and the harsh reality of life hits them squarely in the face. The routine of everyday life grabs them like a vice and decades soon pass in the blink of an eye. Youth feels like yesterday, they can taste it, but age and time tells them a different story of potential lost with the blight of old age coming at them like a freight train.
For a person of middle age, you see them for who they are today.
There is very little, if any, future potential. Their ceiling, for the most part, has been fulfilled. Their magazine is empty and they have plateaued.
Their past is of some interest, but that depends on who and what they have made of themselves today. Their past may or may not be of any interest or significance.
Their accumulated experiences, wisdom and knowledge is of some import. What you see is what they are and probably will ever be. They have a past, a limited future and mostly the sunset of old age to look forward to.
They are at the summit of their life and there is nothing more they could possibly do. They are at the peak of life, however high or low it may be.
Greying and aging, the hill is slanting downwards. They are middle aged and preparations should be made for, hopefully, a mostly pleasant descent.
For a person of elder age, you only see their grey thinning hair, wrinkled lines and diminished stature.
Death is knocking at their door. Aging is the now.
There is little hope for any further development of the mind, spirit or body. You take them for who they are today. Their past may be of interest, especially if they have made something of themselves, or if they have retained something of their vibrant past.
The arc of their life may be of some interest. If asked. If inquired. Most may be eager to share the adventures of their life. Their early hopes, struggles, and experiences that led them to who and what they are today.
We see them as old, but they were young once too, with unlimited potential, with the shining halo of youth, and dreams of living an extraordinary life. If they are thoughtful, they’ll have wisdom to share, and knowledge to give.
You don’t expect much of them today, only to remain alive and statist. Perhaps they have the means to travel and leisure, but nothing more is expected from them to contribute to the world. The best of them is behind and their contribution to mankind limited.
They’ve retained the fashion of their times, ie. whichever decade they happen to self accentuate the best version of themselves. Today, it dates their age and epoch.
You think to yourself, especially the young, that you’ll somehow be different. You’ll be a successful elder, wise, witty and very successful.
But who could possibly imagine being old, when the future is so bright and plenty of decades lie ahead.
The End
