Forever Young by Alphaville expresses existential angst in the midst of the promised and feared nuclear holocaust that hung over the 80s.  The lyrics are incredibly clever as it mourns how the optimism and wondrous health of youth is being sucked away by the anxiety caused by the old people preparing to destroy the world.  “Forever young.  I want to stay forever young.”  Who wants to age if aging means being like the ones ruining the world right now?  I want to stay forever young.  It is selfish but it is honest.  And I think we all feel it.

I have experienced both Forever Youngs recently.  I have met up with people from my youth and college days.  Suffice it to say that 36 years can do a lot to a body.  Last I had seen most of them we were getting married and contemplating having children.  Now we are grandparents.  And some really look like it!  In my mind’s eye I pictured them the way we looked when we cap and gowned our way to our Bachelors’ degrees.  Nope.  Wrinkles, crooked bodies, hair loss and the hair kept is gray, and flab.  Some need assistance being mobile.  Several have been carried to their final rest.  The people I am with every day have aged with me and I with them and it has been so gradual that we still in many ways feel and act the same.  But seeing the others has been a shock.  I accepted a  Facebook request and was introduced to someone who looks like he crawled out of a dumpster.  I remember studying for the American History final with him while envying him all the coeds that couldn’t pass nearby without trying to get his attention.  Today those coeds wouldn’t recognize him and would probably reach into their purses for spare change.  The real blow was in seeing a beloved professor who was a bundle of energy and spewed wisdom and knowledge with every breath.  What I found was a fossil that resembled a mad scientist who shuffled around talking with himself because he could not find anyone else to have a deep and intelligent conversation with.  I ached for them, my friends and beloved teachers, people I genuinely loved, I ached to see that they had not stayed young.  And I then ached for myself.  Do they see me the same way?  “Poor guy.  I remember when he could run 3 miles and then chase fly balls all day and then study well into the evening.  Now he limps and let’s not talk about his haircut.”  I, too, want to stay forever young.  It’s probably too late and well beyond Artificial Intelligence’s ability to fake.