Is my song growin old?
Every Thursday when I walk into work I am greeted by a gaggle of geriatrics square dancing in the food court of Chesterfield Town Center. Every Thursday I am more and more terrified of growing old. I think it's an archaic and common misconception that the fear of youth is age because it points toward mortality. I think this was once true, but now, if you look around, there are more and more of our generation into their thirties and still being what some generations would call youthful. No wife/husband, no kids, and jobs in technology or sales that afford them time to go get tattooed and attend clubs regularly (or in most of our cases got to shows). Somewhere there was a shift, I can't, of course, pin point what year it started or what age group it encompasses, but the shift was from a fear of dying to a fear of being lame. The fear of death only brought people of the past so far with there death grip on youth until they accepted it happens to everyone and put on their plaid golf pants. But the fear of lameness can seemingly be avoided; it's within our grasp like a form of social immortality almost. Like "I can deal with dying as long as I die looking cool and being known". I know for me, personally, I only fear 2 things; torture and the day I wake up and turn on the TV and have NO idea what's going on. Don't get me wrong, I often watch MTV and scarcely can keep up with the idiocy, but I still have an inkling of what's occurring in the culture. I fear not death as long as I'm in a band and a part of something tied to the youth culture, and I suspect we all think that way sometimes, if not all the time. I'm not sure what the future holds for anyone, but the day I feel like square dancing after a morning's walk around the mall sounds appealing, may I cast my body into a raging flame.