While walking with my pastor-friend, Scott, recently, he suggested an image that has stayed with me. He said that he had gotten to the age where he realizes that, contrary to what his self image has been for years, he is not Brad Pitt in “Troy”; he is more Walter Matthau in “Grumpy Old Men”!
I can most certainly relate.
In fact, I think that for men, this is a common experience of aging/maturing.
The Brad Pitt (who isn’t even old enough to have been my self-image when I was in my 20′s!) identity comes naturally with young age. The feeling that you can do anything, conquer any foe, rescue any damsel whether in distress or not: the feeling that you are invincible. For me I carried that image from age 19 until around 40 when I realized that I was no such thing. At 40 my body began to deteriorate rather quickly. My eyesight suddenly got worse (it had suffered much in seminary when I “read my eyes out!”), my blood pressure got out of control and my blood sugar level became an issue. At 50, other things began to dissipate. Now, at 55 I look in the mirror, expecting to see a young, virile Brad Pitt-ish guy, only to discover an old, grumpy Walter Matthau (whom I loved as an actor, I didn’t know him as a person).
Not that being Walter is a bad thing, it just isn’t as thrilling and, well, virile as being Brad. I’m sure in his day, Walter was plenty virile and that Brad will one day look in the mirror and see some other old codger. It is the way of All Men.
But it is a rather rude awakening. I am sure that I am the last one in my life to have figured this out. People who know me are probably shaking their head as they read this, wondering how in the world it took me so long to see.
To them, I say, “do me a favor: put your lip over your head… and swallow!“
