Old Dogs

In the an episode of Futurama, the election for the president of Earth are around the corner and the professor talks about how important it is to vote. Leela asks the professor when he got so interested in politics. The professor responds, "The very moment I became old."

I think it's funny, but it also makes me wonder, when are we old? Picking an age seems very arbitrary. Usually, when we call people old, we are implying that they are past their prime and not useful. That idea of age seems more useful than picking a number. So the question becomes, how do we know when we are losing our ability?

When I look at life, I see that it is constantly changing. The things that don't change usually die faster. If you don't grow or evolve, something or someone will come along and find exactly how to take you down. Since you never change, you become completely predictable. My general rule is that as soon as something stagnates, it instantly loses 50% of its effectiveness. In terms of being old, I will say that as soon as you stagnate, you're old.

When we are children, we are always learning changing, and growing. Everything in the world is new to us and every piece of knowledge we gain leads to several more avenues to explore. We are amazed by the vastness of it and excited to learn as much as we can. Eventually, though, we will have explored a great deal of the avenues. We have so much knowledge that we can answer any of the questions we are asked and solve all the problems we get. Then we start thinking that we know everything. And at that point, we no longer wish to learn. We already know everything, so anything else that somebody says must be wrong. That is the very moment when we become old, when we no longer want to learn.

I've heard that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Whether or not the statement is true, the sentiment is. People, as well as dogs, get set in their ways over time. When a person no longer wants to learn, they can't be taught. If you don't want to be an old dog, keep on learning. Keep on knowing that there is always more to learn and go out and find that knowledge. Keep on changing, growing and evolving.