To get old is a gift and it could be a curse sometimes, not many would be lucky or dammed to attain such grace. It is the age where it seems like going back to being a baby, constantly forgetting things, being told what to do, being fed at times, generally being catered for makes these two stages of our lives similar if not the same. The difference is, there is a huge interval in years between these two stages provided an individual survived to reach this golden period of life.
Consequently, without one, there can't be the other, meaning we all have to come as babies before getting old, except maybe for Benjamin Button from the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, who lived his life backward, from old age back to being a baby. But his case is curious as it is a fiction, hence it can not really fit in the real world of humans as I write this short piece.
Some are blessed with an extremely long life, that is, to those whose mortality rate is still intact i.e not sick terminally or on the war front with a chance of get hit by a bullet, or been polluted by the toxic wastes around them, these lucky ones always have memories left behind in different stages of their lives. Those memories, experiences, are what makes getting old interesting, makes an individual wiser or makes one become bitter and sad, maybe more knowledgeable as generally believed, old age comes with a whole lot of regrets, lessons and maybe memories past happiness.
Wealth, good education, surviving wars and pandemics, and maybe love are some of these lessons. The more you age the more you understand love, riches, and wealth(or maybe not), the more you should know more about men and women, how to respect them, treat them, and so on. Though many didn't do well with love, either divorced or still in love, you become more cautious of the fact that to live and grow old, you must love and be loved, make money to survive, and cater for your loved ones before weakness and numbness caught up with you.
Also, Wealth is another catalyst for growth mentioned. You might be extremely rich or poor, as you grow older, you understand that you might not be able to get everything you have with your wealth. Love is one of those things you could lack irrespective of how wealthy you are, you could buy a woman's heart momentarily, but not permanently. Wealth is like a spirit, as you grow older, you tend to understand how to keep it and be resourceful with it to get richer. You could be rich at the earliest stage of life and still die poor and vice versa, opportunities comes and go, only the measure your wisdom and the combination of your age in terms of knowledge will determine how you turn those opportunities into wealth or lose it.
Another lesson is Friendship. Having good friends could make anyone live longer than expected, your friends could be the result of your success in life as you grow older and it could be the other way round. Friends could make or mar anyone, the ability to discern and diligently know those good friends you need for surviving lies in your knowledge as you grow older. Getting older will let you know the friends that are reckless and the ones that are prudent who could help you along in this life.
As you grow older, you should consider these things if you are learning a great deal from them or not, there are more lessons that come with getting older but these few ones are most likely common to any man or woman living, you ought to look back and see how you have aged positively or maybe negatively, these are the good memories you want to remember as you become a toddler again, not the bad, sad memories of hardship and sufferings or loneliness.
Thanks for reading.