It’s All Maya!

Ten years ago two e-mails were circulating around the internet that I thought was funny yet profound.  One of them went like this:

The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A death! What’s that, a bonus?!? I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you go live in an old age home. You get kicked out for being too healthy. You go collect your pension, then when you start work, you get a gold watch on your first day. You work forty years until you’re young enough to enjoy your retirement. You drink alcohol, you party, and you get ready for High School. Afterwards you go to primary school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a little boy or a little girl. You go back, you spend your last 9 months floating with luxuries like central heating, spa, room service on tap, then you finish off as an orgasm!! Now that’s how life should be!!!

The other goes like this:

Life’s a test….. do you pass?

At age 4, success is…not peeing in your pants.

At age 12, success is…having friends.

At age 16, success is…having a driver’s license.

At age 20, success is…having sex.

At age 35, success is…having money.

At age 50, success is…having money.

At age 60, success is…having sex.

At age 76, success is…having a driver’s license.

At age 82, success is…having friends.

At age 90, success is…not peeing in your pants.

I went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button today starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett.  In case you haven’t heard about it, the story plot is taken from a short story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a baby being born old and grows younger with time.  The idea intrigued me and I had to see the film.

I have to admit that the idea of growing younger with time had sounded wonderful to me as I’ve thought about it over the years, especially after reaching a certain age, when you begin to see the first signs of aging in your body and your health.

Brad Pitt gives an excellent performance as Benjamin, an old man that grows increasingly younger as the world around him grows older.  Cate Blanchett, as Daisy, is an old woman on her death bed telling her daughter Caroline (Julia Ormond) about the story of Benjamin Button.

Daisy meets Benjamin when she’s a young girl and he’s an old man, yet there’s an instant connection between the two of them in spite of their vast age difference.  As Daisy grows older and becomes a lovely young woman, Benjamin grows younger and younger.  They finally fall in love when both are in their 40’s, and begin to build a life together.  But,  for how long?!  The moment is fleeting as Benjamin continues to get younger, while Daisy continues to grow older.  The roles have now reversed with Daisy aware of her physical beauty fading as Benjamin becomes more and more youthful and beautiful with time….

Maya Muses:  So many questions!  The impalpable notion of time.  What I wasn’t prepared for in the film was that there was as much sadness in growing young as there is in growing old.  Everything in Life is ephemeral and it makes little difference when all is said and done whether we grow old, or we grow young.  Ironically, either way, if we live long enough we end up being helpless and dependent on others to take care of our needs in the end.

A must see film that will make you ponder Life and Death, Time and Aging.

Photo Credits:  Flickr