These are my thoughts on the stages of life. That life is a circle, and every part of it has a counterpart in a later stage of life. It is an idea I go back to often, and am always able to add a thing or two.
When life ends, we go through the tunnel of death (as described by those who have been refused entry for not being ripe enough). We then emerge into the bright light of a new dimension. A child being born similarly goes through a dark tunnel and into the blinding light of the world.
Just as a child begins life in diapers, so does the old person leave life in Pampers. Babies are born toothless, nourished with milk and soft foods. Very old people, too, end up practically toothless, hence fed with lugaw, soup (or milk).
Toddlers have to be helped in everything they do, especially when learning how to walk. They have yayas and strollers. Old people who have lost their power of locomotion have yayas, too. They use three-pronged canes and, like children, have strollers, too, only they are called wheelchairs.
Old and young get to be first in line in elevators, as in: Please give priority to the elderly, disabled and pregnant women. Many malls have special roomy bathrooms for oldsters to be wheeled in. Babies have tables hinged to the wall to be diapered on.
Difficult work
Soon the child has to start school, a strange and bewildering experience. Learning the basics is difficult work. Children try to resist the entrance of knowledge, just as adults resist leaving what they’ve learned behind due to deteriorating memory, which they furiously counter with crossword puzzles.
Schoolchildren cram and memorize till they know they can pass the coming exam—excel, if possible. Adults accumulate knowledge that they need in their professions, to succeed, to be on top. Children consult adults about the knowledge they have stored, which adults share.
Adolescence is the counterpart of the senior’s second childhood. In his senescence, he/she falls in love with his yaya/nurse/DI, wanting to marry her/him, to the disgust of his/her adult children who say it’s only money the fancied one is after.
But love is inevitable. Young people fall in love (with either gender), marry or live in, or break their hearts and remain single.
After a long period, they want a readjustment of the relationship. They may have strayed and had a fling, or formed a new relationship. They break up the old one. Or they simply remain content or resigned to the original family.
Each old person, however, wishes to die with relatives and loved ones surrounding them. A fond farewell because they need to be born again.