In what ways is one better when young than old?

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Apart from tending to look better and being in better health.

The more I think about it, the more I can't think of anything and am veering towards the 'youth is wasted on the young' thing.

Like, people talk of the fearlessness of youth, but that only seem to apply to some people.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 12 September 2003 08:17 (twenty-two years ago)

youth is better because if you are young you have young and old all still to come. if you dont like the young bit, you still have old to look forward too

if you are old, the young part is gone, you cannot have it back

― gareth (gareth), Friday, 12 September 2003 08:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, I meant stuff intrinsic to ones personality, ie. not including the 'time left on the planet' thing.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 12 September 2003 08:24 (twenty-two years ago)

when you're old, you supposedly have wisdom from experience, but i wouldn't know that from examining some of the old people i know. when you're young you have a good bit of idealism due to the illusory notion that you can actually change things down here

then you grow out of it

― Vic (Vic), Friday, 12 September 2003 08:27 (twenty-two years ago)

when you are old, you tell

when you are young, you ask

this may or may not be true

― gareth (gareth), Friday, 12 September 2003 08:28 (twenty-two years ago)

luckily i am living time backwards like that dumm book by m.amis where he ripped the plot off someone no one can remember

*throws lego about in tantrum*

― mark s (mark s), Friday, 12 September 2003 08:45 (twenty-two years ago)

i like the idea of mark s hurling lego around...
being old will be fun, i think. i want to pretend to be mental so i can walk down dual carriageways in the buff etc...

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Friday, 12 September 2003 08:53 (twenty-two years ago)

I think I would have made the question 'younger than older'. I'm also talking about looking back now (except for young Ronan and baby Mark). I think I am a bit smarter and more interesting than I was when I was 18. I dress slightly better too. I was more fearful then too.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 12 September 2003 08:58 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm past my sexual peak :(

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 12 September 2003 10:53 (twenty-two years ago)

i can't even see mine

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Friday, 12 September 2003 10:56 (twenty-two years ago)

I am stupider and more bitter and cynical than when I was eleven. It all went downhill from there.

― Maria (Maria), Friday, 12 September 2003 11:03 (twenty-two years ago)

When I was younger I didn't worry about things so much. I'd love to get back to that as I worry about everything & I do mean everything

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Friday, 12 September 2003 11:14 (twenty-two years ago)

When I was younger, I was sweeter and nicer. Then again, I was more naive and trusting of people, which did end up getting me hurt time and time again. I think I'm actually better NOW than I was then, because I'm better at protecting myself from others, even on the inside.

― Just Deanna (Dee the Lurker), Friday, 12 September 2003 11:20 (twenty-two years ago)

luckily i am living time backwards like that dumm book by m.amis where he ripped the plot off someone no one can remember

No one remembers Philip K. Dick?

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 12 September 2003 11:21 (twenty-two years ago)

when am I going to get my sexual peek? : ((((((((

yes, I definitely think I am greater now than I was at eighteen. roll on twenty-three, etc.

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 12 September 2003 11:23 (twenty-two years ago)

the guy who i am thinking of is not dick, martin

― mark s (mark s), Friday, 12 September 2003 11:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I worried ALL THE TIME when I was younger, not so much now. I'm happy about getting old, not just because things do seem to be getting better, but also because the alternatives are being sad about it or being dead, and I much prefer being happy.

― teeny (teeny), Friday, 12 September 2003 11:26 (twenty-two years ago)

there was a film called 'Golden Years' along those lines, was this based on the same book?

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 12 September 2003 11:27 (twenty-two years ago)

forget stephen king.

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 12 September 2003 11:31 (twenty-two years ago)

The book is possibly Slaughterhouse five, though the definitive treatment of this was in 2000AD.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 12 September 2003 12:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Innocence. What I didnt know didnt hurt me then. Now it does. Eh.

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 12 September 2003 12:45 (twenty-two years ago)

the 2000ad short story was of course an alan moore. i reread it a few months back.

― Alan (Alan), Friday, 12 September 2003 12:47 (twenty-two years ago)

the book is not slaughterhouse five: i read it in about 1973-4, my dad got it out of the travelling library and said it was good and lent it to me

it was by someone i never heard of otherwise (i think): we had lots of books by vonnegut and dick around the place

― mark s (mark s), Friday, 12 September 2003 12:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Young people can learn things more easily, eg languages, instruments, the difference between Joey Fatone and Lance Bass.

― oops (Oops), Friday, 12 September 2003 12:50 (twenty-two years ago)

i would say my back, but i've had back problems since the age of 10. Getting off of a school bus with a pinched nerve in your spine causes...difficulties.

also, when you're younger, you have enough time to be anything you want to be.

when you're older, you realized that the options aren't quite that good, and that you probably won't become an astronaut or a fighter pilot.

Of course, when you're older, you realize that your aims have evolved into being, say, Peter Hook, Bob Mould or Bob Pollard, rather than Buzz Aldrin.

― Kingfish (Kingfish), Friday, 12 September 2003 12:50 (twenty-two years ago)

When I was younger I could last more than two pumps during sex.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Friday, 12 September 2003 12:52 (twenty-two years ago)

The is really 'is one better', not 'is it better for one', Kingfish

I really should have exluded all physical matters, but I didn't want to be a dualist.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 12 September 2003 12:55 (twenty-two years ago)

When you're young, perhaps due to a lack of cynicism, experiences seem to be richer. I can remember listening to certain records when I was young and being totally overwhelmed by them. I can think of albums that I've heard in the last ten years that I've enjoyed, but none that have really hit me with the same impact as when I was a teenager. It seems that as you get older and the number of reference points increases, you lose this ability to be surprised. Novelties become tired variations.

Perhaps first loves glow for the same reason.

― Alfie (Alfie), Friday, 12 September 2003 13:22 (twenty-two years ago)

When I was younger, I thought I was worth far more in golden coins than I would estimate I am worth thesedays.

― Mandee, Friday, 12 September 2003 13:32 (twenty-two years ago)

I think there's a certain, not exactly optimism, but expectation of things to come when you're young...a natural enthusiam towards life itself, that often tends to slip away over the years. Like, in many professions, experienced folk will refer to their new colleagues as "green". I think, as we get older, we all tend to lose that greenness. Well, me at least.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 12 September 2003 13:39 (twenty-two years ago)

There's an optimism/enthusiam you have when you're young that is based on the fact that you don't know you limits. As you get older, you learn what you're good at and what you suck at and so the your possible futures are narrowed. I'm incapable of jumping huge buildings in a single stride so it looks like I can strike superhero off my possible careers list.

In my experience, people who describe younger colleagues as green tend to do so out of envy for their youth. More greenness.

When I was younger, I thought I was worth far more in golden coins than I would estimate I am worth thesedays.

I think you'll find that it's the fluctuation in the price of gold that is the issue there - the last high was in '95-'96, followed by a slump three years ago, the price is slowly creeping back up now. ;-)

― Alfie (Alfie), Friday, 12 September 2003 14:10 (twenty-two years ago)

As you get older, you learn what you're good at and what you suck at and so the your possible futures are narrowed.

Note also: you're not always right about this. An youthful ignorance of limits can lead to setting the limits further out.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 12 September 2003 16:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Agreeed about the optimism thing. Mine's pretty much spent.

― Sean (Sean), Friday, 12 September 2003 18:58 (twenty-two years ago)

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