And this blog is about age.
When someone would ask Neil’s mother how old she was she
would answer, “I’ll forgive you for asking that personal question.”
I even resent a doctor asking my age. That means he has immediately
categorized me.
We do want to be
perceived as young—that baby-butt smooth skin, how gorgeous is that? No wonder
we want it, but who wants to be judged as slow, awkward, ugly, conservative,
stupid, or forgetful—or worse yet, “What age did your parents die?” Horrors. Even
being victims of our DNA can be changed, so I’ve heard, as genes are constantly turning on or off. Bottom line, we fight
to look young, while we ought to be fighting to think young—meaning, of course,
forward thinking, innovative, inventive, open to new ideas, and new people. Be
a person worth keeping around.
“Look for your mold.”
Scientist Dr. Jonathan Sackner- Bernstein persuades us to
“Look for our mold.” He tells the story of one scientist, who daily sorted
through his petri- dishes checking specimens—you know where this is going, but the
story bears repeating. Dr. Alexander Fleming was 47 when he discovered
penicillin. Every day he would check his numerous petri-dishes. If he found
that one had turned moldy he chucked it into the trash. One day, a moldy dish looked a little
different from the many others he had thrown away, so he put it aside. Later he
noticed that the bacteria around the mold had died--thus Fleming discovered one
of the first antibiotics. He called it mold juice—I guess Penicillin sounds more
scientific.
Bernstein’s point was
that this scientist, Dr. Alexander Fleming, at age 47, had the years of
experience to discern, the wisdom to
trust his intuition, and the training to identify. Unfortunately he was not
good at communicating and thus the community didn’t listen to him, even in WWI
when he said, accurately, that the antiseptics they were using did more harm
than good. He brought in a couple more scientists and eventually the word on
penicillin got out.
Too often people use the excuse that they won’t make a
difference because they lost their chance, they are too old.
Remember what Richard Back (book Illusions) said, “If you wonder whether your mission on earth is over,
if you’re alive, it isn’t.”
Berstein pointed out that even such things as learning to
play a musical instrument involves different components than years and years of
practice. It involves how you are supported, your attitude, and your innate
talent.
“Go boldly in the
direction of your dreams.”
If you’re alive having your dreams come true is still an
option.
I
certainly didn't plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world's
first antibiotic, or bacteria killer. But I suppose that was exactly what I
did.”
—Alexander Fleming
