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In the June 6th, 2010 issue of "Parade" magazine, celebrity columnist Walter Scott posted a short interview with NBA star and sports commentator Charles Barkley. At the end of this interview, Scott posed the question, "You just turned 47 - do you think about turning 50?"
Barkley replied, "Yeah, I'm thinking I got three years to live - because ain't nothin' happenin' after 50. That's the way I look at it." (The entire interview may be read at http://www.parade.com/celebrity/personality-parade/2010/06/06/charles-barkley.html though be aware that the site is rife with pop-up ads).
I would never presume to debate basketball, professional sports, sports broadcasting, or a number of other subjects with Charles Barkley. He collected quite a list of awards and honors during his sixteen year NBA career, including two Olympic Gold Medals as part of the United States "Dream Team." His career as both player and commentator has been successful and lucrative, and I deeply respect what he has accomplished.
His view on aging, however, sucks worse than my basketball playing, which is pretty bad. Duct tape a 2x4 to one of Barkley's legs, and tie one hand behind his back, and he's still going to easily trounce me on the court.
He should trounce me on aging as well. I turned 50 just three months before he turned 47, and I haven't a fraction of the resources he has at his disposal. Sir Charles has been reported to blow more money in six hours at a blackjack table, than I make in a decade. He can afford to, while I couldn't afford even one hand at such a high-stakes game. That isn't a criticism or condemnation, just a statement of facts. He can afford to do things that I can only dream of, and in some cases, people are going to pay him to do things that I would have to pay to do. Do you think a network is going to fly me to a sports event, get me into the event, and pay me to not only watch it, but share my opinions on it? Not very likely.
We all get older - if we're blessed to continue living. During many periods of history, reaching the age of forty would have been considered a long life. We're fortunate today that medical science has opened up many of the keys to not only living longer, but living well even into advanced years. Calendar milestones are not scheduled inductions into disabilities, and quite often the biggest factor in what we are able to do at any given age, is what we think we can do.
Granted, Charles Barkley has one factor to deal with that I don't. I once read that some of the Apollo Moon program astronauts suffered a strange form of depression after their spectacular missions, and it was tied to the realization that - after you've gone to the Moon, what else is there? When a person has reached a height that cannot be repeated or duplicated, there can be a let-down from thinking that everything else from then on is "down hill."
Charles Barkley alluded to this mentality earlier in the interview, when he commented, "I understand that I can never recapture being Charles Barkley. I might do this, and I might do that, but it ain't nothing like being a great player in your prime."
Oddly enough, though, that principle is true for all of us that have aged beyond our prime. Whether a sports great, or an average blue-collar worker, once we've passed that "prime of life" age, we're never going to recapture it. I didn't reach a lauded pinnacle in my life like Barkley did, but there was a time years ago when my body was at the peak of development and condition, and at fifty years old, I'm never going to see that peak again. I believe all of us that have reached middle aged or beyond can empathize with that feeling of loss.
What I can't agree with, though, is that he needs to recapture being Charles Barkley. He IS Charles Barkley, every bit as much as he was twenty years ago, and - Lord willing - every bit as much as he will be in another twenty years. Time marches on, and who we are should be an integral part of what we're doing in the here and now, not just what we did sometime in the past. Change is inevitable - we are not static beings in a static universe, but living, dynamic individuals moving along with an incessant timeline. From moment to moment, changes occur within us, and all around us. The world as it is right now is not the same as it will be by the time you finish reading this sentence. Things have changed, and we've been graced with the incredible ability to adapt to those changes.
We may not want to adapt to the changes, but we have the ability to do so. To stop adapting is to accept death. We can resist adapting for so long, but eventually, our survival depends on it.
Whether or not anything happens after fifty is entirely up to each individual. We can decide we're "too old" for anything interesting, or we can decide that we're not going to stop living until they nail the coffin lid shut over us.
I doubt Charles Barkley is going to read this column, but if he does, I kind of hope it makes him a bit angry. I hope he asks who the hell I think I am, writing this kind of stuff. More than that, I hope it fires up that competitive spirit that elevated him to the top of his game. I hope he decides that he's going to trounce me on aging, and that rather than thinking he has three years to live, he has three years to decide how he's going to show that birthday who's boss. I hope he turns fifty with a shout of celebration, not with a whimper of resignation, and that he does incredible things that make me say, "Damn, I wish I'd thought of that."
I'd really hate to think that a powerful man like him would let a gray-haired factory worker turn fifty better than he does, especially since I really didn't set the bar that high. I know a lot of people that attacked fifty with even more gusto than I did. I hope in three years, I count Charles Barkley among them.
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