Growing Old

Why Andrew Dice Clay's age matters:

In my memory, Dice was still a young man in his 30s, lean and fit, oozing with machismo, nonchalantly flipping society the bird. It was such a striking image, it’s difficult to shake. Obviously, I understand how math works, so I knew he had to have gotten older… but THAT MUCH OLDER?! Like I said, it was a jarring visual. Have you ever wandered into the bathroom in the middle of the night and gotten a quick glimpse of your reflection in the mirror — and your first thought is, “Eww, who the hell is that old dude?” Then you rub your eyes and stare again: “Oh no, that old dude is ME!” You can almost feel the Reaper creeping up on you. That’s a jarring visual, too. Sometimes you get that feeling when you’re scrolling through Facebook: A girl you dated when you were both in your 20s is now happily married with a lovely family. But every now and then, when she posts a family photo, she doesn’t look like the girl you remember from 25 years ago. Instead, she looks like her mom — and her college-aged daughter now looks like her. It’s trippy. One of George Orwell’s lesser-known quotes is, “By the age of 50, everyone has the face he deserves.” Orwell was right: Time is a great equalizer. Superficial gifts — including physical beauty — are fleeting. They don’t last. And neither do we.

Nothing lasts ecxept for the memories we leave beind...