March 27, 2000
DOWN HOME:
OK, just when does 'middle age' begin?
___Some people really know how to hurt a guy.
___In this case, the perpetrator is a headline writer for the Dallas Morning News.
___"Two bits, four bits, six bits a dollar ...," the Morning News' meanie wrote, "she's amiddle-aged mom and she sure loves to holler."
MARV KNOX
Editor
___The headline enticed readers to a story about Ragena Waters, a cheerleader at tiny Bacone College in Muskogee, Okla.
___The headline writer claimed Ragena Waters is "middle-aged." She's 43. Ouch. That's how old I am.
___So, this smarty-pants headline writer thinks we're both middle-aged. This person probably is 24 and doesn't know the meaning of age. Yet.
___Of course, I can understand.
___My 35th birthday was my most difficult. That's because when I was 12 years old, I decided 35 was the beginning of middle age. My dad turned 35 that year, and he definitely appeared to be middle-aged, according to 12-year-old eyes.
___But when I turned 35, I still felt as young as a pup. Molly was just 4, and Lindsay, at 7, was entering second grade. Best of all, I was married to a 34-year-old woman. Joanna was young, very young. So, I arbitrarily determined 55 to be the advent of middle age. And I retain the right to change the number again in another dozen years.
___What defines "middle age," anyway? Is it a number of years? Does it have to do with health? Or maybe it's got something to do with looks. I hope not, since I started losing my hair in my 20s, which would've put me over the proverbial hill by 30. I didn't suffer my first sports-related injury until after my 40th birthday, but I chalked that up to lack of conditioning more than age.
___Aging is relative, you know. Researchers think children born by 2050 will face life spans of more than 90 years. Their grandchildren routinely will live past the century mark.
___Even then, people like Ragena Waters will be setting the mark. They're the folks who decide not to let the number of orbits around the sun determine what they can and cannot do. They believe energy, enthusiasm and zest for life count for more than birthdays.
___The Morning News story didn't say if Waters is a Christian, but I can't help but appreciate how she faces life.
___We know God has numbered our years. Still, Jesus indicated we cannot determine the day or the hour of our passing. In the meantime, we're to be living our lives faithfully and full of effort--to glorify God, to lead others to faith in him, to live according to his will for our lives.
___From that perspective, all the years from when we're born again until we die are the middle ages. And the good ol' days.
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