It's one of those perceptual things. When you're a kid it can seem uncanny that older people are actually as old as they are, as if they had some sort of special attribute that allowed them to become that old. Another perception of someone young is that older people did something wrong that caused them to become old and look as old as they do, as if the passage of time can be prevented by personal choices such as avoiding something. "I'm going to allow myself to get old like that." As you get older you realize that time can pass quite quickly and that becoming old is actually easy, like sliding down an ice-covered mountain.
of course getting old can be prevented. heroin, for example, is an effective old age prevention tool.
alky and stress accelerate the appearance of aging. but of course, nothing you do or avoid doing stops the clock. there is also a genetic factor to how old you look at what actual age, which you really can't do anything about either. and of course, looking old isn't always a negative either. people assume you know more, which of course, if you've payed attention in life, you might, likewise of course, many people don't. having grown up in an era when people associated age with wisdom, i grew up looking forward to it.
I honestly didn't think much about it when I was younger--just assumed it would happen to me, but never stopped and really considered it. Kind of a blessing, that was.
Getting older has actually been good to me overall. I've learned a lot the VERY hard way...didn't think I'd make it through a couple of times. I'm a better person for it however.
i've seen fire and i've seen rain, i've seen lonely times (and times i bloody damd well wish i could have been alone, and more of those then the other!) don't think i'm any better or worse of a person. would have liked to have seen more, not less though.
As a little kid I remember looking up at my great-grandmother's counter and seeing all those prescription bottles thinking "Wow, that's a lot". If my great-grandmother were still alive today, she'd look at all the prescription bottles on MY counter and exclaim, "Holy fuck!" That's what getting old feels like. Fun fact: We called her "Nanawehelp". I always thought that was her name (she died when I was 7). It wasn't until I was a teenager that it suddenly dawned on me we were actually calling her, "Nana we help". To this day my sister and I still refer to her as "Nanawehelp". Nanawehelp was born in 1890.
generally speaking, people get old by not dying. (sorry i couldn't resist. somebody had to speak the captain obvious line.)
