Ion's blog

Art Linkletter’s assertion that the stages of life are “infancy, childhood, adolescence, and obsolescence” is an insightful look into today’s societal values, specifically our valuation (or devaluation, as the case may be) of our elderly. For example, the stage of childhood, where we play our first role in the theatre of life, is lauded for its innocence, its hopefulness, and its future value. All this, despite the infant’s inherent helpless dependency and gross behavior: crying, self-defecation, and vomiting.

The second stage, childhood, is equally revered, but for slightly different reasons. An example of this is the image of Twain’s Tom Sawyer; with his scholastic insouciance and luminous malfeasances, he is indelibly etched on society’s consciousness. This is in spite of the fact that often the child is an unwilling actor on the stage of life, many times decrying the imposition of social rules by his adult mentors.

The third stage, adolescence, is the stuff of legend and fondness for our culture. The varied roles that the adolescent or young adult plays, be it as a lover, composing odes to every follicle of his sweetheart, or as a soldier: proud, jealous, aggressive yet ever idealistic, and thinly, almost mockingly bearded, are often the subject of nostalgic songs, doting books, and film. Too often, however, society forgets the consequences of this “boys will be boys” attitude: either introverted, almost suicidal behavior, or extroverted violence, as we have seen in Columbine.

In contrast, the fourth stage of life, adulthood, is the beginning of the end for a man. Gone is the innocence and glory of youth, replaced with corpulence, decadence, and sarcasm. The fashionable youth is replaced with the bespectacled man most comfortable in pajamas, with a voice that shrinks just as his limbs do. He is forgotten, degenerating into a second childhood, a childhood repulsive due to its regressive dependence. Consider, Dickens’ Scrooge: a spiteful and hated old man. At this point in life, a man is merely waiting to die, losing his teeth, his sight, his mind, and his life, but not before losing the love and admiration of a fickle society bent on youth-worship—in other words, he becomes “obsolete.”