In Yoke

Old age is the most unexpected of all the things that can happen to us. -Leon Trotsky When the first grey hair appears on our head, it is a critical juncture in life. We go to the mirror with a sinking feeling of dread and try to pluck out the evidence - one here, two there. But the more we pull out, the more seem to come in. I tease my friends by asking which of them would like to relive their adolescence. It always brings a groan. Youth has a lot to offer, but so does the experience of age. In India, there is a joke about a man going to a barber and asking, "Do you have anything for grey hair?" "Yes," the barber says, "respect." Just because we don't have wrinkles or a grey hair, we are not necessarily alive in the fullest sense of the word. Real living comes from making a contribution to life. This is the paradox of life: when we cling to the body, it loses its beauty. But when we do not cling to the body - and use it as an instrument given us t