Human beings fuss over a lot of things and one of those things is age. We have magnified age to the extent that it limits our progress in life. At one point we are too young to do something and before we realize it, we are now too old to do the same thing. I have observed, however, that this phenomenon prevails in the African culture. A 30 year old would tell you they are still having fun and don’t want to do anything serious and committing while a 50 year old feels they are too old, need to retire and take care of grand kids; such is the paradox of life. I have reason to believe that the life of a person is not so much defined by age but by their attitude towards life, personality and maturity.

1.     Attitude here speaks to what one really wants to get out of life and how they perceive it. For example, a carpenter may look at a tree and see furniture, another person sees firewood and so on. This has nothing at all to do with age, it is about interests and approaches. People who have a good attitude towards life pursue their dreams at any age, and for some reason stay younger in the process. Sports science has also demonstrated that sportsmen and women in most cases would heal faster than an ordinary person from the same type of injury, not because of the quality of medicare but their desire to get back and play. In 2010 we heard the story of an 84 year old Kenyan man who started primary school. Under ‘normal’ circumstances, we would have expected him to sit at home and await death.

2.     Personality/character – no two people are the same, even identical twins normally have different characters. Character has a lot of influence on whether a person achieves or doesn’t.  It also determines how the environment perceives and accommodates you. It is how other people know and define you and where societal pressure comes from. More often than not, we pin down people to certain behaviors solely based on their age. It could be their dress sense, hobbies or preferences. In my view, these things would largely depend on the background of a person, their profession and where they stay (village or town).

3.     Maturity is normally attributed to age but in real life that is not the case. A 20 year old may be more mature than a 40 year old depending on their life experiences. Over the years, I have realised that people may grow old but if they do not allow themselves to learn from others, their level of maturity remains questionable which makes one wonder if wisdom really comes with age… Some people cannot learn from the life they have lived, they commit the same mistakes and errors at 70 they did when they were 30.