Tuesday, September 21, 2010

How old will we be in heaven?

How old will we be in heaven? This is a question that has been around since the beginning of time. The only people who don’t ask it are the ones who don’t think they are going there. One possible answer is that we would be the age we were when we died. Some of us would be very old, while others would be babies, or unborn. I think the answer may be less obvious. It is possible that we have sort of a preset age in our brains.

When I was a child in the ‘50s, a lot of people called me “the little man.” I would have been perfectly happy to wear a suit and carry a briefcase to grade school if I could have. I am not sure I didn’t sometimes. When I was in college in the ‘60s, others were turning on and dropping out. I didn’t get it. I was starting businesses.

Eventually, I hit my stride and the world was a wonderful place. For years the world was in sync and I was as happy as a clam. Actually, I don’t really know if clams are happy or not, that is just an expression.

Now people who were born about the same time I was are getting old while I am not. I know this is delusional, but that is the way it seems to me.

One of my heroes, filmmaker, Warren Miller, asks the question, “If you didn’t know how old you are, how old do you think you are?” His answer is 14. He has always considered himself a wisecracking 14 year old, even though he is now in his eighties. I know a lot of people who are emotionally and intelligently in junior high their whole lives. I also know people who have been seventy-five their whole lives.

Personally, I know how old I will be in heaven. I will be the same age I have always been, no matter how old my body is, forty-two. How old are you?