Growing Old with Dignity or NOT!

I was sitting outside in the park blocks this afternoon, enjoying the cooler summer weather and listening to some rather mellow music that was being broadcast through some free standing amps. There was an assorted array of students lounging around, eating or studying for mid-terms (already!) and a number of other people just hanging around waiting for the regular live music to start. One older fellow started to dance to the canned music. He must have been in his 70s or 80s, dressed in bib overalls, a dingy old t-shirt and a baseball cap. He was having a great time girating, pulling up his bibs in time with the music, and strutting around doing his impression of an aged Michael Jackson. Some students watched him, amused, and smiling. Others turned away as if embarassed that this old geezer was unaware of how silly he looked. Some taunted him outright, telling him to sit down. He turned to them, smiled, doffed his cap their way and then kept on dancing. I had to smile and admire his spirit.

I used to think that the one final goal in life was to "grow old with dignity". It was a surprise for me to learn that there's a whole cadre of people out in the world who actually believe that dignity be damned, they aim to grow old and enjoy every minute of every day NOT worrying about embarassing themselves or by extension anyone related to them. What a relief that must be.

Nonetheless, I still hope that as I grow older, I can find a good compromise between maintaining some dignity and dancing in the park blocks with abandon - dignity be damned.