ക GROWING OLD GRACEFULLY

In less than 30 hours, 2009 is long gone. Time flies like an arrow and all the years gone by like a blink of an eye. We cannot escape the facts of life, { 生老病死 shēng lǎo bìng sǐ } which is birth, old age, sickness & death. Life is impermanent, quite uncertain and always in a state of flux. We know one thing for sure we grow old but we can grow old gracefully and mindfully.

Had a get together with old friends whom we have not met for some time over cuppa of coffee, all the four are 'YesNoYes' (Chinese educated)[in case some missed my earlier post ~ its a name we called those educated in Chinese and Kenwooi coined them as 'mango'] and as usual I'm the only bananaz. That has been my "gift" since day one, having lots of "yesnoyes" friends more than bananaz friends. Yak yak yak about travel, [fast forward]..and finally about how to retire and one peculiar topic of "OLD" creeps into the conversation and I can hardly wait to blog and share about it. One of them shared his ideology of growing old gracefully with four paramount factors of "OLD" that we need the most which sounds terrific to me. A creative joke pun replaced the most common Chinese proverb thus inverted the meaning as not to depend on our children to look after us when we grow old..

養兒防老 OR 養兒煩恼

{yǎng' ér fáng lǎo OR yǎng' ér fán nǎo}

The first part { 養兒防老yǎng' ér fáng lǎo }  means to bring up children for the purpose of being looked after in old age OR the second { 養兒煩恼 yǎng' ér fán nǎo } where there is rhyme for 'fáng lǎo' & 'fán nǎo' which literarily means to have more worries or anxieties having children. If the first part is true MAYBE that is one of the reason why our ancestors in the olden days prefer boys than girls so that they can lived happily ever after with the son (s) taking care of them through old age? That's my wild guess. In future do you still believe your son will take care of you or you think your daughter will take care of you even more or will your children bid you farewell and send you to old folks home? Take it as a bonus point, hope for the best and prepare for the worst..(Thanks to Autumn Belle who added  this "Chinese want to have sons in a family to carry on the family surname and the 'OLD' is like addressing 'Sir' and not referring to old in terms of age").

So what are the four very important factors we should look forward to so as not to be a liability to our children and society? Here you go..

I. { 老伴 lǎo bàn } old spouse (husband or wife or soulmate).

II. { 老友 lǎo you } old friend, someone to catch up for a cuppa.

III. { 老生 lǎo shēng } old body, healthy living.

IV. { 老本 lǎo běn } old capital, retirement fund or nestegg.

Wishing everyone a blessed wonderful, and bountiful ll0l0.

Posted in: Growing old gracefully