The Three Ages of Life
“How can you have three ages and only one life?”
“I was listening to your program last week and heard you were talking about how you have three ages. How can you have three ages and only one life?” Jackie asks Guest Speaker Jordan Stanley, after paying $250, to ask him one question. “Yeah,” the audience shouts in unison. “I want to know too,” someone yells out. “Me too,” another said. “And if you all shut up, he will tell us,” Rosemary, Jackie’s friend yelled at the top of her voice. Silence rushed in quickly. Jordan Stanley smiled at the audience, covering the pain in his heart and eyes. Staring into their eyes, some of them shared his agony and some of the misery his life was reeling in. ‘Go on, tell them,’ a voice inside him taunts. ‘Start from the bottom. It’s the only way to reach the top.’ “When I was eight years old, my parents died in a motor vehicle accident. I shuffled between family members’ homes and foster care for the next ten years. I tasted death four times. I learned and lost a lot on my journey. That was my Turning Point age. The audience gasped. He went on. “At 24 years old, I met and fell in love with an angel. We shared thirty-eight years of bliss until she died of cancer eighteen months ago. That was my Perfect Age.” Again, the audience gasped. He paused, fighting the memories in anguish. He won with a smile and said, “today, I am over sixty years old. High blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, and COPD threaten my life by the hour and prevent me from living the life I want right now. If I have a chance to go back, I will return to my Turning Point Age.” “But why that age?” someone asked. “Yeah,” another person wondered out loud. “I thought you would want to go back to your Perfect Age.” “I am old, alone, and have no children. I would go back to that age to change my choices and decisions. That would have put me on a different route.” “But you found true love. That should have been enough,” someone said. “She died. I am alive. She took her love with her,” he released in grief, fighting the tears. “So we have a Turning Point age in which our lives turn in the right or wrong direction?” “Yes,” he agreed in distress and regret. “That happened when my parents died.” “And your Perfect Age was when you found true love?” “Oh, yes,” he said. “And that wasn’t enough?” someone else asked. “I am at my Fear Age. A.k.a my Real Age or the third age. Even with love, the outcome of my life is plagued with so much sorrow. So yes, all of us have three ages, and many fear the third age.”
“But you found love and were happy for many years. Love should be enough,” someone stressed in shock.
“Love isn’t everything girl, don’t you know the song, “sometimes love ain’t enough?” “I would go back to my Turning Point age. There is so much I don’t like about my life now,” someone in the audience shared. “I too,” others agreed. “I would go back to my perfect age and make it last forever. I was much happier then,” another member of the audience remarked. “Nothing last forever,” someone interjects. “I am staying at my real age. I love my life the way it is now,” a happy person said. “Me too,” someone agreed with her. “I made the right decisions, and I am healthy too.”
“All of your turning points are even numbers, that’s bad luck,” someone throws out.
The female beside him slapped him and said, “this isn’t a casino in Atlantic City, those numbers are coincidences.”
Many more persons turned to look at him in annoyance.
“Now I understand,” Jackie said in relief. “I would go back to my Turning Point Age. Right now, I would like a different life.”
What age would you go back to if you had a choice? I love my life now. I wouldn’t learn all the lessons I knew if I went back to any age. How about you.
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