2nd Childhood: An Essay
First published on my Taylor Patterns website, 2023-03-12
Essay: an analytic or interpretive literary composition usually dealing with its subject from a limited or personal view (from the internet, definitions)
“Old age is but a second childhood.” - Aristophanes
What is it like to be a two-year old? We were all there. Yet now we don’t know. Can never know again? Philosophers (like Scott Hershovitz in his book “Nasty, Brutish and Short: Adventures in Philosophy with My Kids”, 2022) and psychologists (like Alison Gopnik in her “The Philosophical Baby”, 2009) explore this. I will explore it here.
Children are not not-ready-for-adulthood-little-people. They are totally different. They think differently, are super creative. They view their new world in amazement, overflowing with curiosity.
I think they still know something of the world from which they just left.
We lose nearly all of this as we grow. Sad, aye?
Second Childhood: a period in someone's adult life when they act as a child, either for fun or as a consequence of reduced mental capabilities. (internet search)
Like Aristophanes (I assume, based on his quote above, and knowing he wrote comedies), I am aiming for the “for fun” second childhood. I will do my best to keep an active mind. I still read a lot. I do daily mind exercises, like Sudoku and the games on the app Lumosity (though studies haven’t conclusively proven brain games aid in slowing down, or preventing, reduced mental capabilities, but I think we can help them out a bit here). Many people, upon retiring, “lose it”. Particularly if inactive. I understand why. It wasn’t easy for me to accept retirement: the (seeming) inactivity, getting past the feeling of uselessness.
I have an Uncle who just turned 98. He is very active, has been his entire life (I could write a book about him*). He stepped it up upon retiring, with a variety of hobbies. He restored a John Deere tractor at age 85, then restored one of my old Beetles (pictured at the top). Hobbies totally unrelated to his vocations (he had several). His mind and body are very healthy. Is he one of the exceptions?
I know from experience that if I am inactive (even sitting for a short period) my joints stiffen and my body has a tougher time overcoming Newton’s 1st Law of Motion. “A body at rest will remain at rest unless an outside force acts on it”. In this case, I suppose that outside force is will power. Many feel the mind and body are in a symbiotic type relationship*. They can play off each other. I think that if the body performs better by staying active, it stands to reason the same goes for the mind.
The adage:“If you don’t use it, you lose it” hits home here.
I also know the dark side of “reduced mental capabilities”. Someone very close to me suffered greatly in his final weeks, the result of exposure to a chemical as a young adult. The entity responsible denies responsibility. He had no control. Others I know sank into dementia or Alzheimer’s after retiring. Some of them were active. We may have no control.
We hedge our chances. Staying active, perhaps with variety, may just mean we live life to the fullest, for as long as we can. We enjoy that time and perhaps reduce the duration dealing with mental decline (and perhaps, eliminate it). We make gold. Our projects can be a message to those back up the street in this parade we’re part of (the parade that is all history*). Be it a journal, painting, piece of handmade furniture, poem, essay or memoir. Or the making and leaving of memories by spending active time with loved ones, particularly young ones.
Gold. Golden years.
I made a list of hobbies and plan to stay busy doing what I love. I will try to visit each in this blog. I once read that learning a musical instrument or another language (both of which are a breeze for a child, but some of us need to work at it) are very good activities for keeping one’s mind active, healthy. Both of which I may re-visit. Couldn’t hurt.
Painting, one of the more childlike hobbies, is new to my list. Perhaps I can, however briefly, and with lucidity, re-visit the two-year old experience.
* future blog ideas!
