'Do I dare to eat a peach?' - TS Eliot

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column.

Michael Commane

We had a health test at work some days ago. I know pride is high on the list when it comes to the top sins. But I’ll tempt the gods and be dangerous. 

When it came to the cardiovascular test I scored top marks. My metabolic age registered 15 years younger than my current age. There were one or two places where slight improvement is needed. Fortunately, there was no equipment to measure my mental age.

Many fellow Dominicans tell me that I will live to a ripe old age so as to annoy the Irish Dominicans as long as possible.

I may be dead before this appears on the page. I might be knocked down by that proverbial bus. Indeed, I could be told I have developed an incurable or fatal illness.

We have no idea when we are going to die. I remember the morning my mother died, while walking out of the hospital later, saying to myself I would be annoyed if some people escaped death. No one does.

Before the general election there was much talk about the pension controversy. People grow old and we have to care for our elderly.

At what stage does a person start ‘to grow old’?

When I taught English and we read TS Eliot’s ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, I never thought it had anything to do with me. It was always some older man. But now those lines are staring me in the face.

‘I grow old… I grow old…./I shall wear the bottom of my trousers rolled/ Shall I part my hair behind?/ Do I dare to eat a peach?/I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me.’

Does wisdom come with age? I have met wise older people but I have also met unwise older people. I have often heard people say that old-age is a curse. But surely older people have collected an experience over their lived years. In my case I often look back in embarrassment on my younger years and wonder how could I have behaved in such a manner.

In general, older people are less inclined to do the damage and harm that younger people do. Most of the prison population is made up of young people. Yes, there is the occasional older person incarcerated and it is terribly sad when you see them there.

Our libido seems to quieten down as we grow older. The cycle of sex, love, partnership, caring for your children, moves to the next step of being that adoring grandmother/grandfather.

And when you think of all the rules and regulations religions attach to sexual conduct I’m tempted to scratch my head and wonder.

After all, our sexual drive is part of the schema of things to make sure that it all keeps going. Sometimes I’m inclined to wonder if so much of religions’ codes and laws on sexual behaviour are all nonsense. And then, on the other hand, maybe there is great wisdom to it all. Who knows?

Society needs to keep order. The common good requires it. What happens if and when the genie is allowed out of the bottle?

Growing older allows one look at life with a certain degree of wonder, scepticism, and maybe wisdom too.

And then there is the mystery of God, eternal life.

What do we know about anything? Does growing old help? One thing is sure, life is a mystery and we all die.