The question of whether growing old is a blessing or a curse is one which can adequately be answered only by an old person. And even at that, the answers put forth will not be consistent in favor of one or the other.

Young people are too occupied with their lives to bother with questions of getting old. Those who do venture to reply to such questions will only have a limited perspective on the matter. The young mind cannot be expected to reach forward into old age to be able to decide if it might be a welcome time of life.

Actually, most young people will probably look favorably upon old age because they’re looking with young eyes. The young mind transposes itself into old age with the impression that only the age will be higher, but the mind and body will be the same.

People who have reached middle age begin to have a better understanding of old age. But their views will be determined by what kind of life they are currently experiencing. If things are going well, especially in the matter of health and career, they will look forward to old age much more positively than otherwise.

If, in middle age, people have not been able to have a promising career, or their health is already deteriorating, they will look at old age with dread. They will already have the feeling that old age is a curse, and they will look back at their young age as being a blessing.

The old people know what it is like because they are already there. However, as mentioned earlier, their views will not be consistent. That is to say, there won’t be a consensus as to whether old age is a blessing or a curse. The views will be subjective, as views always are.

One thing, though, cannot be contradicted. No matter how good a life an old person is experiencing, nothing can compare with youth. This is simply a biological fact. Nature has given to youth a blessing that, unfortunately, only an old person can fully appreciate.

The most fortunate of all are, undoubtedly, those who had a good life when they were young, and continue to have a good life in their old age. Surely such people have experienced heaven on earth. But how many can be said to have had such a life? Very few, compared to the vast majority.

There are also the rare cases of people who had a miserable life in their young age. Nothing seemed to go well, and they faced poor prospects for old age. Yet, somehow, things change and their life takes a turn for the better. In old age they enjoy blessings they could never have imagined. Again, a very rare phenomenon.

In general, old age depends upon old age. Only an old person can say if old age is a blessing or a curse. The old person who is enjoying a blessed old age will say it is a blessing. The one who is facing hardship will say it is a curse. And there will be the ones with the stoical view who’ll accept whatever kind of life they’re having as the one they deserved.

As for those who haven’t reached old age, they can only observe the old people, and try and learn from what they see. This is really difficult, of course. When the young look at the aged, they feel that they will not be like that. Somehow they feel they are different, and that their old age will be different.

This is the case with every young person. It might be easier for the middle-aged people to look at the old people and learn some valuable lessons from them. Their views have become more realistic as the ideals of youth have given way to sound sense.

Old age is a blessing if the person has prepared for it, and a curse if the young age was wasted. The foundation for a blessed or a cursed old age is laid from a very young age. Many opportunities come in later years to try and learn, and to set a proper course for the life ahead. But no matter what a person does, nature will have the last word in determining what kind of life one will have in old age.