Aging gracefully is another type of personal growth

Aging gracefully is another type of personal growth
I recall sitting in the last row of a RT meeting when it suddenly dawned on me why one member of the all-male group looked so different. Every man was between the ages of 28 to at least 45 years old. The other heads were jet black or honey brown or salt and pepper or hardly any hair or some other artificial tint. A White Shirt Man stood out from the crowd. He packed a loaded bundle of white hair. A lean man with a salt and pepper beard, I couldn’t help gazing at him. Something you could freely indulge in: gazing, staring, admiring or snigger or be amused at, when you’re a back bencher and furthermore not a member of the group.
Anyway, back to the Man in White. He was fairly above 40, must be at least 45. But there was something the Man in White exuded; grace some would call it. Vivacious spirit perhaps but more than anything there was something about him I wished his younger counterparts could pretty much emulate.
It is no sin to dye one's hair. It is just one of many ways we adorn ourselves. But the sight of a dozen men with hair colours impossible for human beings (and perhaps even impossible for any age!) made me want to laugh out loud right there. (I resisted.) All the heads would probably have looked normal if the Man in White's hair had not screaming out, "I'm proud of my colour. I'm proud of my age. I'm not going to hide. I'm aging gracefully."
Now that is an admirable feat for anyone in RT: To see aging as a personal growth. Most of the men react to it like an ultimatum on life. Like on reaching 41, they have become ‘old’, therefore they have to do everything to ‘look’ young. First of all, 41 is not old. Second of all, so what if you’re older, revel in it. Vanity is a sign of insecurity. So to the Man in White I say: Kudos to your spirit, you have proved the age is a state of mind. It's time to be proud of everything about ourselves, including our age. So to everybody aging gracefully out there, "Happy 41st year on earth!"