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The Four Stages Of LifeLife has four distinct stages: youth, adulthood, old age, and death. Some of us will experience all four stage while some will only experience two or perhaps three of these stages. Each stage has its own fascinations, its own problems, and its own inducements. These stages blend from one to the other usually without any special awareness of our progression. Of the four stages of life only youth has a definite beginning: birth, and only death has a definite ending. Although, death is becomes more difficult to determine if we include artificial means of keeping a body alive. Youth is that stage from birth to adulthood. While the onset of adulthood may be difficult to accurately determine, its beginning is usually marked by the exit from a womb. Youth is a time of growing, of becoming, and of escaping adult, especially parental control. Youth is a time of play with little responsibility, learning with little understanding of where that learning will take us. Youth is a time of trying various actions to see how others respond, a time to be what we are without knowing what that is, a time of expressing our opinions while still not fully understanding if those opinions are our own or those of the adults and older people around us. Youth is a time of looking forward but not yet a time of planning, a time to wish for our hearts desires and not caring about the consequences. Youth slowly blends into adulthood as people expect more of us, as we demand independence from the restriction of youth. Youth dies a slow but welcome death because the adult stage holds the promise of a future yet to be defined, of life yet to be lived, of potential yet to be realized. Somewhere between the tender years of adulthood and the old age of youth, adulthood flutters in on the silent wings of age. Adulthood is where the dreams and plans of youth crash into reality. Dreams become reality only if pressed with determination, where the process of living becomes individualized before it is co-joined with another in an attempt at creating a future for a new generation. Adulthood is where the youth discovers the limitations of his parents, the lack of control in life’s events, and the knowledge that life is a series of possibilities. Adulthood is that indeterminate time that occurs somewhere after youth and somewhere before old age. Adulthood is that period of time spent relearning what we thought we already knew. Adulthood is that stage where we wait for the next generation to take flight, to become adults in their own rights, to not need us but pretend they do. Adulthood is where we relearn how to baby sit while spoiling the children of our children. Adulthood is for most of us the longest of the three alive stages. Adulthood reshapes the memories of youth while plotting the pattern of old age. Adulthood is that stage where the wine of life gradually turns to the vinegar of old age. Old age is that stage of life when the mind remembers what the body can no longer do as well as we remember being able to do it. Old age begins benignly enough, without fanfare or celebration. Old age is that time of life that we discover by looking back from what we can do to what we used to do. Old age is meant to be a time of reflection, a time to consider all of our life, and a time to integrate lessons learned and unlearned. Old age is when we change the habits of a lifetime to accommodate the mind and body disconnect. Old age is where we look back and wish we had done some things differently, planned better, and that we had had more foresight. Old age is a time for enjoying a lifetime of effort, a time of happiness, a time to be carefree but for most it is at time of wishing for what was and hoping for what will be. Unfortunately, old age is also where some will leave a lifetime mate and attempt to rediscover youth in wooing a younger mate. Old age should be a time of assessment, a time to review our affects on those around us, a time to plan for that final stage: death. Death is that final, ending stage of life, the end result of all life. Death is the final destination regardless of life’s starting point or of life’s events. Some believe death is the end of life, some believe it to be the beginning of another life. Death is as much a stage of life as youth, adulthood, or old age. Death is the drum beat of life. Author: Don Miller
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2005 Articles |
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