< Struck by a heart attack, a woman pleaded with God, "Oh, God, am I dying?" And God answered back, "No, no, no. You have thirty to forty good years yet. This is just a rehearsal." So, when she recovered from her heart attack, she decided to go for it. She stayed in the hospital, hired a plastic surgeon, had a face lift, a tummy tuck, a little breast augmentation and, the day before she left, brought in a cosmetologist to get her hair dyed. Then, she walked out of the hospital, was hit by an ambulance, and died. "God!" she squealed when she got to heaven, "I don't get it! You said I had at least thirty years!" And God said, "Yeah, that was the plan, all right. And believe me, lady, you would have gotten it. But when we got there, we didn't recognize you."

There is absolutely nothing wrong with looking good. There are a ton of products on the market to help us in the anti-aging process. Americans spend billions of dollars a year to look good. Talk about "disposable" income! But it's all an illusion of unlimited longevity.  Advertisements about looking younger play right into our fantasy! What's so bad about growing older and becoming the elders of our families and faith community? Elders are meant to be the Wisdom Figures for our children, young adults, and those in their middle years. We, who are elders, are now the masters of the school of life. We have the experience and the responsibility to help the next generation. And it is more than passing on material wealth to children and grandchildren. That is a very modern and American concept. Elders have been around since the beginning of the human race. Imagine those first grandmothers... teaching their daughters how to become new mothers. We humans have evolved to this point in time. Elders and Wisdom Figures are still needed, maybe more than ever, as kids face more and more demands, stress, competition, and dangers... like materialism, drugs, gangs, etc.
It's an interesting fact that we have more people in "old age" than ever before in the history of the human race. We're living longer! The government and the media make it sound like a negative problem... what's going to happen to social security?... how can society support all these elderly?... it costs so much money to take care of their health needs! We cannot buy into such negativity. Can we view this large number of elders as a gift in our evolution... that they are needed... that they can help the next generation focus on what is really important as all of us live the Gift of Life?
Our society needs elders, even those considered by "some" to be a burden: the weak, the ill, disabled, dependent, demented, and the dying. They can teach younger generations valuable lessons about the spiritual and emotional life of human beings. I have always turned to older, wiser priests during my priesthood when I had a problem or a situation I didn't know how to handle. No matter who we are or what we do, we all face obstacles and challenges in our lives.