The Beauty of Age

In youth the days are short and the years are long; in old age the years are short and the days long. ~Nikita Ivanovich Panin

October is a glorious month. The Republic of China (ROC) was born in October, so was I on the 9th, one day before my country on the double tenth. Walking on the streets in Taipei, I see many national flags* flying high in the air and I'm feeling high!

October is a busy month for Toastmasters, countless speech contests are lining up, from in-house, area, division, to district. I joined both humorous speech contest and evaluation contest this evening. It felt great to stand up and speak up in front of fellow club members. Many thanks go to judges from sister clubs to support Grand's in-house speech contest in 2012.

The Beauty of Age

Life is about...! Life is about...! (The speaker picks up a small piece of paper from her pocket, but she can't read the words on it. She uses a magnifier to read it aloud!)

Loss of memory! It can happen to me. It can happen to you! Sooner or later, for better and for worse!

How many times you forget lines when you're on stage at a Toastmasters speech contest? How many times you forget where you park your car? Don't feel bad. Some people forget to say "I do" at the wedding ceremony. Many people forget to say "I love you" on their anniversaries. Some people forget they are married!

Last month, I had the debut theater performance at Taipei Fringe Festival, featuring Shakespeare. Me, Juliet, at my age, of course not. I didn't forget my lines, I flipped two pages faster as the narrator and the actors looked at me in awe not knowing what to do next!

The loss of memory is not a bad thing. Forgetting your enemies makes you forgiving your enemies. Life becomes more beautiful!

Why am I standing here? Who am I? (The speaker picks up a small mirror in her purse, but she can't see her face well. She uses a bigger table mirror 5X to see herself better.)

Oh, mirror mirror mirror on the table! Aging is a slow process of decay, in two opposite directions, swelling and shrinking. My eye bags, bigger and bigger, my saddle bags, heavier and heavier. But shrinking ~ (the speaker holds the breast)!

Last Friday evening, my husband was excited to bring home an x-rate DVD. After dinner, he went to his study planning how, I was in the kitchen wondering why. We were in bed early after a good shower. When he turned on the DVD player, he threw me the remote control. Without reading glasses, I couldn't find the play key. My husband became impatient and asked me just to press every button, no work. I gave him the remote control and he struggled for a long while. In the end, we were so exhausted and frustrated and decided to call it a night!

William Shakespeare said, "all the world's a stage, in the seventh stage, mere oblivion, sans eyes, sans everything." The loss of sight is not a bad thing. We can't see details, flaws of others, we see big pictures. Life becomes more beautiful.

The beauty of age is about loss of memory, loss of sight, but not loss of hope!

Look at the Grandriders in Taiwan! Seventeen octagenarians with all diseases and disorders in the medical dictionary rode around the island and brought Taiwan on International stage, they demo the beauty of age with spirit, energy, and friendship! It can happen to them, it can happen to us!

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. Beauty is the courage to dream, to learn, to take the challenge. Take a look at the beauty of age in front of you. It can happen to me. It can happen to you!

Contest Chair! 
*青天白日滿地紅旗: 1906年孫中山先生設計。 (1) 青天：自由。(2) 白日：平等。(3) 滿地紅：博愛。(4) 十二道光芒：象徵每日12時辰，每年12月份，喻自強不息之意。