[DomLuka] DD 33

[Matthew]

The young one's here are forgetting one important thing. One day, providing nothing happens to them, they may live to see what they consider to be old age. Age is just a number.

 

I'm perfectly aware that one day, I too will be a dinosaur. It's because of my acute sense of the passage of time that I mock as much as I can while I still can.

[LittleBuddhaTW]

I just turned 28 and I already consider myself to be "old" ... **sigh**

 

Fortunately, Taiwanese gay culture is odd, and gay relationships are age, role, and status-structured. It's very rare to find two guys of the same age together. There's almost always a younger one (referred to as "didi," or "younger brother") and an older one (referred to as "gege," or "older brother"). So, I still get lots of cute young guys who are interested in me, but unfortunately, I'm really picky ... and none of the cute young guys who are interested in me seem to be mature enough to be able to handle a serious relationship. The guys who are in there mid-twenties are out too, since that's the time they're all doing their mandatory military service (I dated an army boy once, and that was hell, since I only got to see him on the weekends). Guys my age or older are out too, because at that age, many of them have developed the infamous Chinese male chauvinist attitude, and I'm not about to get treated like somebody's little wife.

 

I'll try to write an essay on Taiwanese gay culture sometime and put it up on my web page ... it's VERY different than in the West, and despite the fact that many Taiwanese gays LOVE foreign guys, it's hard to find one to really click with, plus there are lots of cultural obstacles, too, like how they let there families control them all their lives, they're EXTREMELY closeted, and generally immature and shallow (I know this is a broad generalization, which is bad, but it has held true for the many gay Taiwanese I've met) as a result of being sheltered and pampered by their mommys all their lives.

 

**Sigh**

[Gearoid]

I'm perfectly aware that one day, I too will be a dinosaur. It's because of my acute sense of the passage of time that I mock as much as I can while I still can.

 

This topic on age sort of touches a nerve. The truest things I have read about age are from Aristotle's Rhetoric. He says this of the old

 

"The character of Elderly Men -- men who are past their prime -- may be said to be formed for the most part of elements that are the contrary of all these. They have lived many years; they have often been taken in, and often made mistakes; and life on the whole is a bad business. The result is that they are sure about nothing and under-do everything. They "think," but they never "know"; and because of their hesitation they always add a "possibly" or a "perhaps," putting everything this way and nothing positively. They are cynical; that is, they tend to put the worse construction on everything. Further, their experience makes them distrustful and therefore suspicious of evil. Consequently they neither love warmly nor hate bitterly, but following the hint of Bias they love as though they will some day hate and hate as though they will some day love. They are small-minded, because they have been humbled by life: their desires are set upon nothing more exalted or unusual than what will help them to keep alive. They are not generous, because money is one of the things they must have, and at the same time their experience has taught them how hard it is to get and how easy to lose. They are cowardly, and are always anticipating danger; unlike that of the young, who are warm-blooded, their temperament is chilly; old age has paved the way for cowardice; fear is, in fact, a form of chill. They love life; and all the more when their last day has come, because the object of all desire is something we have not got, and also because we desire most strongly that which we need most urgently. They are too fond of themselves; this is one form that small-mindedness takes. Because of this, they guide their lives too much by considerations of what is useful and too little by what is noble -- "

 

That is really harsh but for me in my seventh decade it rings true. I once read a speech by the American revolutionary James Cannon on his 70th birthday and he said that the challenge of old age was to be true to the courage of one's youth. Again that sounds true to me.

 

In some ways though when I look at the young I am shocked by their conservatism. Though it is very necessary to bear in mind here that it is all too easy to out radicalise the young. They have pressures on them which enforce conformity: the kind of pressure which someone of my age really doesn't have. Having said that I was lucky enough to go to university before the great DUMBING DOWN, and I was expected to be critical. It seems now to me that the ideal for the student and academic is the cheer leader who will function as the celebarator of corporate culture.

 

As for getting to be a dinosaur, I wish. I have often thought in the middle of a demonstration for instance that dinosaurs were scary creatures and when faced with the ranks of those who uphold the status quo I have been tempted to meditate on the fact that a touch of the old raptosaurus would go a long way to make one's point.

 

regards

 

Gearoid

[NickolasJames8]

I'll bring it back

 

I don't know if Aaron is gone for good, but I still think that he won't change until someone kicks his a**, and I think that Grandma Alice is the one to do it

[Xandra Kitee]

That's an interesting idea. I like it.

 

YOU MESSED WITH MY GRANDSON ?!

 

Grandma Alice roundhouse kick Aaron. The shock causes a major turn of Aaron's personality. Grandma Alice looks to the setting sun.

 

Justice will prevail !

 

No seriously, I don't really know what Alice could do about Aaron. She doesn't strike me as the kind to care for that (messed up teens). And Aaron could not care less than for an old woman who is not related to him. What ways could she has to reach him ?

 

The dude needs his own little epiphany all by himslef.

[AFriendlyFace]

22's not old.

Thank You Matt! LOL so you take back your sarcastic remarks from the other day?

 

I just turned 28 and I already consider myself to be "old" ... **sigh**

On the first point, as ridiculous as it is, I've been feeling "old" lately myself. This is mostly because I'm in my final year of undergrad, and practically everyone in my classes and "circles" really is younger. Similarly I'm all but the oldest at work. I particularly found it unpleasent when a new "younger" (and incredibly gorgeous! ) guy started a week or so ago, and I suddenly found myself getting flirted with by my coworkers quite a bit less. ... I fixed it though, I started wearing tighter pants and shirts, dressed up more in general, and dyed my hair a new colour. (Catastrophe averted for now ). Anyway So while I know I'm not really "old" I hate being the "oldest"...Still I'm moving soon and I'll have to make new friends anyway, and undoubtedly in my "new circle" I'll be one of the younger ones ( Yay! )

 

Fortunately, Taiwanese gay culture is odd, and gay relationships are age, role, and status-structured. It's very rare to find two guys of the same age together. There's almost always a younger one (referred to as "didi," or "younger brother") and an older one (referred to as "gege," or "older brother")...

Very interesting! Is this similar to the ancient Greek practice where by there was a "beloved" and a "lover", and their roles were vastly different?

...Guys my age or older are out too, because at that age, many of them have developed the infamous Chinese male chauvinist attitude, and I'm not about to get treated like somebody's little wife.

Good!!

 

I'll try to write an essay on Taiwanese gay culture sometime and put it up on my web page

Please do, I'd find that very interesting.

 

As for getting to be a dinosaur, I wish. I have often thought in the middle of a demonstration for instance that dinosaurs were scary creatures and when faced with the ranks of those who uphold the status quo I have been tempted to meditate on the fact that a touch of the old raptosaurus would go a long way to make one's point.

Yep, you're right. People set in their ways (dinosaurs), who have a strong, unwavering belief about how things should be, are very scary. I don't think I'd want to be one personally though...well most of the time anyway...it's true that often such blind certainty in the validity of your stance can be a major boon, and is of course all but invaluable in "crusade" situations. Personally, however, I tend to approach life from a relativist point of view and, much like the "old people" you described, see everything in shades of gray.

 

No seriously, I don't really know what Alice could do about Aaron. She doesn't strike me as the kind to care for that (messed up teens). And Aaron could not care less than for an old woman who is not related to him. What ways could she has to reach him ?

I dunno, Alice seems like the sort of women who's very sure of her opinion and good at forcing it on others. Perhaps she would intimidate Aaron. As silly as it may seem a scary, grandmotherly figure can do more to shame someone than the biggest, meanest man. I for example have always been more intimidated by my own grandmother than either of my parents or anyone else in my immediate family. I think it's a mixture of the kind of certainty just referred to, a candid bluntness, a huge proficiency for guilting, and a general ability to channel century old "codes of behaviour".

 

Anyway have an awesome day everyone and take care!

Kevin

Edited February 20, 2006 by AFriendlyFace

[glomph]

I'm still intimidated by my grandmother, and she's been dead for 10 years.

 

My clearest picture of the Afterlife is one of being greeted by my grandmother asking me why I didn't make my bed when I left home that morning, and why I didn't have on my best underwear when I got into the accident.

Edited February 20, 2006 by glomph