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| Life, Death and Time (De Champaigne) |
However, jarring questions like this are soon becoming as obsolete as Alfie himself. Today’s version of “middle age” is far less philosophical than it is cosmetic. It is no longer about asking the big questions; it is way more about getting bogged down in the smaller ones.
LiveScience wonders aloud whether psychologist Elliot Jacques really knew what he was talking about when he coined the phrase “mid-life crisis” 40 years ago. At the time, Jacques had focused upon the concept of “looming mortality” as a trigger for existential turmoil. Since people don’t cozy up to death quite as much as they used to (in terms of living-room wakes, battlefield amphitheaters, and graveyard picnics), they may have simply lost their ability to dwell upon it.
Instead, midlife has become a time for the business of busy-ness. Instead of depressively languishing, mid-lifers are now more likely to be manically anguishing. MSN Today Health reports that the current "main problem for middle-age people is feeling unable to get everything done.”
This “everything” certainly includes some noble endeavors. Sandwiched between two generations, mid-lifers tend to be the caregivers of both. Add to this a full-time job (or two), and it’s no wonder that soul-stirring inquiries have gone the way of nickelodeons.
However, death has not become obsolete. Nor may it ever, despite all the accomplishments of science. It might therefore be a wise idea to look up at the heavens every now and then, not just to check for rain, but to truly wonder…
What’s it all about?
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Copyright July 1, 2011 by Linda Van Slyke All Rights Reserved
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