Joy of turning old

Few months back I had watched the movie Awakenings (starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro). The movie was, no doubt, amazing. I was stunned by firstly Robert De Niro's acting, secondly the story.. the way dilemmas of patients and their families was pictured, and also the courage and innocence of Dr. Sayer's character. Anyways, this post is not for the review of movie. You may read AK's post for an interesting review.

As usual after watching the movie I googled and came to know that it is based on Oliver Sacks' book of the same name. I read more about him, went through his works and list of books. I was curious about his work, and felt that I should read atleast one of  his books. Actually he had occupied some quiet-small corner in my brain. And finally, last month in the discount frenzy, even after all that Amazon mess, I have managed to get hold of his book The Mind's Eye.

So I think I should now finally come to the reason which made me write this post. Actually yesterday morning I read an article by Oliver sacks in New York Times. I don't know why, but I really enjoyed reading this article.. there was that feeling, when you want to re-read something. The article is totally about his feelings on turning 80.. about what his life has been.  It was something like, how happy and satisfied a person is on turning old.. but at the same time, just like most of us, even he has that feeling, that he could have wasted less time and could have done many more things. Its about a person, who is not looking at the gloominess of old age, but at the positive side, that there are few things, which you cannot feel unless you are old. I am quite awed by the following lines..

"At 80, one can take a long view and have a vivid, lived sense of history not possible at an earlier age. I can imagine, feel in my bones, what a century is like, which I could not do when I was 40 or 60."

Just wanted to share the article. I hope I have motivated you enough to read it :)


PS: Sometimes background turns out to be longer than the main content :P