Tags
adventure, Africa, age, Border Crossings, Cycling Across Africa, HellsGate, Kenya, Maasai, politics, Ted Kunz
Like time, age is a social construct. Have you ever considered how different life would be with no recorded birthdates? I’ve been following posts from an Idahoan, Ted Kunz, who has been bicycling throughout the African continent for over a year. In his latest dispatch, Ted noted that some of the individuals he meets, particularly, members of the Maasai tribe, do not know how old they are. Births and deaths are simply not tracked and recorded. You’re born, you live, you die. Imagine the learning trajectory of a child of undetermined age. It matters not what age you are when you learn to read. You either learn to read or perhaps you learn something instead of reading. You learn when your brain and body are ready to learn. You learn what is relevant to your survival. You’re ready for marriage and parenthood when your body and physical environment determine that you are ready.
Think about it: no minimum age for a driver’s license, for bar hopping, for smoking, for military service. No hard and fast rules about when to start a family, when to stop dancing, prancing, and giggling. No middle-age crazy when you’re sure life has has left you behind. No age for social security, for retirement. It seems to me this would be wonderfully freeing.
A 1992 graduate of Meridian High, Ted Kunz later graduated from NYU, followed by a career in institutional finance based in New York, Hong Kong, Dallas, Amsterdam, and Boise. For the past five years, Ted spent some of his time living simply in the Treasure Valley, while still following his front wheel to places where adventures unfold. ”Declaring ‘I will ride around the world’ is a bit like saying ‘I will eat a mile-long hoagie sandwich.’ It’s ambitious, even a little absurd. But there’s only one way to attempt it: Bite by bite.” Ted can be reached most any time at ted_kunz@yahoo.com. @theidahopress
Rangewriter 
Yes, a good post and it knits nicely with having watched Nomadland, a multi award winning film.
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Oh boy, Gerard, That was some film, wasn’t it? Frances McDormand seems to be able to pull of anything. But there were so many characters who were just that; characters! Not actors. I think that made it very special.
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I don’t know about freeing, but I do agree that much of what our “adults” are allowed to do should be determined based on emotional maturity level and skill, rather than the simple number of age.
But that is all discussed in my Adulthood related posts, so I shan’t bore you with it here.
Thank you for reminding us of how arbitrary many numbers can be.
Stay safe,
-Shira
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Thanks, Shira. (TBH, I’ve long thought that people should have to earn a license to become parents. But that will never happen.)
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I said the same thing to my cousin when we were 15:
she called me an elitist.
I still believe that parents should have to earn licenses, but we have a long way to go before conditions would be such that we can guarantee equal access and priority to all deserving potential parents.
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Absolutely right, Shira. I am so happy that I made the choice to not become a parent. I didn’t think I’d be good at it and I felt there were too many people on the planet anyway. I was lucky to be fertile during a period when it was easy to get birth control. So much of what we become has to do with what privileges we’re born with.
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True, though personally I chose never to bring a new life into this world because I was not sure of being able to protect any children of mine.
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That is a very sad observation, Shira. A sad testament about the culture of this country. I’m sorry for you and for the little lives you might have contributed to our social fabric. But I respect and admire your decision.
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No, don’t be sorry for me or those lives: I have forged a path out of where I grew up, and I have chosen to teach, and to write, so that that influence could be felt for the better of my community and of as much of the world as I could help to influence for the good. I have worked in three different countries, and lived in four, learned the languages of each of those places, and exchanged views with people that I would never have met nor spoken with, had I stayed where I was, and probably also had I had children. Yes, it may be a sad testament to the current state of our country’s culture, but it is also a statement of hope: I chose to come back and to continue teaching as a profession and also informally, and I continue to choose to work to make this country live up to the promise that all of us can one day be safe, free, and self-actualized.
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This country needs a lot more curious, sensitive, and big-hearted teachers like you. Your progeny is the good you’ve contributed to this world.
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Thank you for your kind words.
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It does make me wonder how my age affects me psychologically. I noticed this year turning 67 bothered me a bit more as I am closer to 70 than 65.I wonder how the Maasai people measure their lives? possibly by events?
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That’s a good question, Jane. Maybe they don’t measure their lives? When you think about it, many of us spend way too much energy measuring ourselves against arbitrary models.
I never had problems with an age related milestones till I hit 60. That flat freaked me out. But then I hit 65 and got Medicare and that was reason enough to rejoice. And the last four years have left me feeling grateful to not be any younger than I am. I don’t have a good feeling about the future.
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Wonderful post, Linda! Thought provoking… Love Ursula
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Thanks Ursula! I envision you scurrying about your new digs eagerly planting things and playing in the dirt!
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A very thought-provoking post – birthdays are a mixed blessing, and maybe as we grow older and time passes so fast, we should just mark every fifth one instead? My mother had a friend born on 29 February who celebrated her 84th birthday with a 21st birthday party!
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A leap year birthdays! I’ve always wondered how it would feel to be a leap day kid and also how it would feel to be a twin. Every 5 year celebrations….that lasted all five years?
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Linda, I like it. Of course, with me, it would vary. I would wake up and say, I feel fifty today, let’s go for a hike. Or, the next day, I would say, I feel seventy, let’s read a book. Keith
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Imagine a world in which you woke up and said, lets go for a hike or let’s read a book with no regard to your age? Either past time is invaluable at any age.
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True.
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Birthdays. Another one of those social constructs that provides a metric for making it easier for us to navigate through all of the other social constructs we’ve developed. At 70, with several chronic health conditions, folks often look at me and remark that I don’t look like I’m 70. I think that demonstrates that the age/birthday thing doesn’t work that well for everyone.
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Yes, I agree. I think it burdens us with useless expectations at both ends of the spectrum — and in the middle as well. Children are too eager to be in the next category and at the other end, we begin to look for dreaded signs of aging, often long before they appear. Contentment is rare.
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What an interesting concept. I think we all mature on our own timetables so not having an age to point to (“I’m this old so I should…”) would be very freeing.
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My thoughts exactly.
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I had to ruminate a few days on the question you posed and imagine life without recognition of birthdays. Why is that day important? In my search I found that it was the coronation of ancient Egyptian gods that started it – considered to be their birth as a “god”. Then the Greeks went ahead and placed candles on the moon-shaped cake of their lunar god Artemis to ward of the darkness of evil spirits – a light in the darkness. We can thank the Romans for celebrating the birth of the common man- but only the men for awhile, and then women’s birthdays were finally recognized.
Maybe birthdays are useful for westerners, like you mentioned, eligibility for medicare, etc. My birthday was certainly useful for me today when I got to record my CrossFit competition workout time onto the special Master’s athlete category (age 60-64) – too hard to make a good showing against the youngsters. And I thought about celebrating our friends’ birthdays – however we can celebrate our friends on other days besides.
Having recently turned 60, this was a timely post for me to read – thanks for it Linda! And, remember – 70 is the new 60!
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I love how you always bring something new and thoughtful to your comments, Sue. It’s interesting that in noting the birthdates of Gods, then men, and of course lastly women, the Romans were conveying importance. I bet their slaves did not have birthdays. I wonder if they “aged” their gladiators and sportsmen, also?
I think the Western world is so driven by time-management and competition that it is difficult to even fathom a life without marking the years as they tick by.. I can only wrap half my head around the idea.
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WOW!!! I’ve never thought of that! So much of what we do is tied to our age … our culture and way of life!
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It is a bit mind boggling, isn’t it? So many of our age-related expectations/restrictions are unfair and nonsensical.
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