You are as old as you think you are!

A good Steemian thinks about his next post even during a night out. Like me, at a rock concert in a park last Sunday. A pleasant night, beautiful atmosphere, great music - and I was thinking how lucky I am to be able to enjoy such a moment. Not that particular concert, any other would do as long you can feel the beauty of it.
I didn't get to write about this and I would have postponed it even more, but last right I saw a post on Facebook - my sister's ex tagged himself and his son at a similar concert in another park - but with the caption that ran something like -'when old folks have nothing better to do than to attend a concert for young people'.

My first reaction - dude, you're younger than me if I remember correctly! He must be somewhere in his mid-forties - 'old folks'??
The other thing I found strange is 'music for young people'. No, neither events were with that kind of commercial music you see on TV, there was no twerking - just decent rock music, not much different from the one we used to listen 20 years ago, when our respective kids weren’t even born. Something about love, a bit of revolt, the rotten society we live in, happiness, unhappiness. I find it very weird to define all this as music for young people. What you’re doing there is basically admitting you have become not only old, but also the enemy, those you used to rebel against. We - who used to be young - have become them - whom we used to consider part of the problem, if not those we used to hate.
And somehow I don’t think it’s the young generation that pushes us into a corner, we do it ourselves. Not me, obviously, but people my age.
Little by little, people redefine themselves and morph into old people - they wear clothes appropriate for older folks, sensible shoes, the sensible mommy haircut. It’s not the kids telling them to do so, they do it voluntarily.
Most of my wardrobe consists of T-shirts with band logos on them - that’s all that @honeydue buys me as presents and why would I spend money to buy decent silk blouses in sombre colors when I have perfectly good clothes to wear? Yet, most women my age - the MTV generation, if you like- have long forgotten their T-shirt days and now shop at stores like ‘Marks&Spencer’ which caters mostly to a mature clientele. It’s not like other stores have warning signs - ‘No over 18s allowed'. But it no longer seems appropriate, just like going to a free concert in the park is no longer for them. As for sitting on the grass - forget about it! The question is why? Who’s stopping them, if not themselves?
To me it sounds like resigning yourself to old age and inevitable decline. The physical decline - that’s unavoidable, I’m not feeling that young myself in that respect - but this is about psychological old age!
Another example that comes to mind - the water-slides at the pool - I tend to stay away from most of them (except the very easy ones) because I’m scared that level of excitement might give me a heart-attack or damage my spine, stuff like that. Yet, there are others who wouldn’t even consider going for a ride because it’s childish! No longer for ‘my age’!
Saying something is no longer for your age usually goes hand in hand with the smirk, the manifest dislike, stupid teenager fashion, stupid music. I wonder how much resentment hides behind these labels? A tiny bit of hate towards the younger generation, those you feel threatened by, those out to take your place!? Those who go to rock concerts because they don’t like the world you built for them?

That being said - I'm off to pack my bags, we're going out of town to a rock festival!

Thanks for reading