"We see the world and things not as they are but as we are." ~ Immanuel Kant, 18th-century German philosopher
Recently the internet brought to my attention the fact that 1918 is as far from 1973 as 2024. This awareness brought to mind a memory of spending time with my grandparents. It was the 1970’s and I saw them through a child’s eyes. I saw them only as “old people.” People I loved and valued, to be sure. But as though their whole existence was them at their advanced age. At the same time I perceived my parents as middle aged, my grandparents as elderly, and perceived myself simply as “me”.
It was impossible to see myself as anything other than what I was, when I was aware of being at all. It was impossible for me to think of my parents or grandparents as ever having existed as anything other than how I was then experiencing them.
Later, when I was in college, I got to know some of them more as people. We talked about their childhoods, their hopes and dreams, but not so much about their experiences of change, growth, or aging. I wish we’d gotten around to that.
Now I’m older than my parents were, closer to the age of my grandparents in the 1970’s. Still experiencing myself as simply “me” and not a particular age. As I somehow find my way toward being elderly, I’m working on remaining open. Open to the possibility of seeing things not only from my limited experience and perspective. Being aware of when my perspective is limited, and expanding my acquaintance and knowledge beyond little old me.
Don’t know if I’ll ever be “one”, or even experience a tiny piece of what it means to see the world in more than binaries. But I’m willing to keep trying.