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Come then—he said—weigh me a pound of fire, measure me a bushel of wind or call back a day that has passed
The Apocrypha, Esdras, 2nd Bl. 4-5
IN HIS Rhetoric, ARISTOTLE (1927) DESCRIBES the aged: "They live by memory rather than by hope, for what is left to them of life is but little, compared to the long past." Moreover, the elderly "are continually talking of the past, because they enjoy remembering." Aristotle's description of the aged, one that emphasizes the importance of memory and the past, is not uncommon, particularly when young people perceive their elders. Do the elderly, however, perceive themselves in this fashion? Almost every old person, when asked "Do you feel old?" will respond "No, I do not feel old." This almost universal condition of not feeling old is best understood in relation to the old person's connection with his past and memory. Not feeling old, does not mean unawareness of limitations and disabilities, but is certainly related to the image that the elderly have of themselves. Because life is a process in time, with continuity as the hallmark, we arrive at old age feeling that we are the same person we used to be. The old do not feel old because they continue to see themselves as the same.
Do elderly people have a long past? What is the meaning of a long past? Does it mean a rich and extended experience that would make life more meaningful? Is the life of the elderly meaningful? Let us consider each of these questions in turn.
Long experience has been considered an important feature of the "wisdom of the aged." In primitive cultures where traditions could not be passed on in writing, old people were honored as the teachers of tradition. Experience itself was the valuable tool. Today,