Have you read "Sky gets dark slowly?

When you go up high in the sky, you are not getting appreciably closer to the sun. The sun is 93 million miles away, and when go up high in the sky you are just going up a few miles! And the reason it’s so bright on a sunny day is not that you are looking right at the sun, it’s because the sky is so bright. When you go up high in the sky, there is less of the sky that is above you. So, the whole sky around and above you is darker, because there’s less of it. And, what sky there is is also less dense because it doesn’t have the weight of all that sky pushing down on it, like when you are on the ground, which is another way of there being “less sky” that also makes that sky not as bright.

Of course it is not necessarily true that the “higher you go in the sky… the closer you get to the sun.” The Earth is round, and rotates relative to the sun … the sun’s position and distance relative to your position in the sky is not fixed. If you are gaining altitude on the side of the earth opposite the sun, then the higher you go the further away from the sun you are technically going. It also depends on how you define light and dark - you are certainly absorbing more and more radiation the higher up in or further away from the atmosphere you are traveling.

Morever, the bright blue sky is a function of light “scattering” in the atmosphere… the higher you go the thinner the atmosphere, and the lesser the scattering affect - this can make things appear darker in certain directions. If you go high enough, then you leave the atmosphere altogether. At that altitude, you are “in space” with all of the sky beneath you. When you look away from the earth, what you see is a night sky, except that in the daytime it is a night sky with a sun in it! That is something you don’t get when you are beneath a sky!

Because when you look at the sky from the surface, what you’re really seeing is light reflected off the atmosphere. As you go higher, the atmosphere gets thinner, so there’s less stuff to reflect light in the direction of your eyes. If you read Zhou Daxin’s latest novel, "THE SKY GETS DARK SLOWLY", you will find it is a sensitive exploration of old age and the complex, hidden emotional worlds of the elderly in a rapidly ageing population. In it he writes, “…Many elderly speak as though they know everything, but of old age they are in fact as ignorant as children. Many elderly are in fact, completely unprepared for what they are to face when it comes to getting old and the road that lay ahead of them.

“In the time between a person turning 60 years old, as they begin to age, right until all the lights go out and the sky gets dark, there are some situations to keep in mind, so that you will be prepared for what is to come, and you will not panic. The people by your side will only continue to grow smaller in number. People in your parents’ and grandmothers’ generation have largely all left, whilst many of your peers will increasingly find it harder to look after themselves, and the younger generations will all be busy with their own lives. Even your wife or husband may depart earlier than you, or that you would expect, and what might then come are days of emptiness. You will have to learn how to live alone, and to enjoy and embrace solitude.

The society will care less and less for you. No matter how glorious your previous career was or how famous you were, ageing will always transform you into a regular old man and old lady. The spotlight no longer shines on you, and you have to learn to contend with standing quietly in one corner, to appreciate the hubbub and views that come after you, and you must overcome the urge to be envious or grumble.

The road ahead will be rocky and full of precarity. Fractures, cardio-vascular blockages, brain atrophy, cancer…these are all possible guests that could pay you a visit any time, and you would not be able to turn them away. You will have to live with illness and ailments, to view them as friends, even; do not fantasize about stable, quiet days without any trouble in your body. Maintaining a positive mentality and getting appropriate, adequate exercise is your duty, and you have to encourage yourself to keep at it consistently.?

Prepare for bed-bound life, a return to the infant state. Our mothers brought us into this world on a bed, and after a journey of twists and turns and a life of struggle, we return to our starting point – the bed –and to the state of having to be looked after by others. The only difference being, where we once had our mothers to care for us, when we prepare to leave, we may not have our kin to look after us. Even if we have kin, their care may?never be close to that of your mother’s; you will more likely than not, be cared for by nursing staff who bear zero relation to you, wearing smiles on their face all whilst carrying weariness and boredom in their hearts. Lay still and don’t be difficult; remember to be grateful.

There will be many swindlers and scammers along the way. Many of them know that the elderly have lots of savings, and will endlessly be thinking of ways to cheat them of their money through scam phone calls, text messages, mail, food and product samples, get-rich-quick schemes, products for longevity or enlightenment… basically, all they want is to get all the money. Beware, and be careful, hold your money close to you. A fool and his money are soon parted, so spend your pennies wisely.

And before the sky gets dark, the last stretches of life’s journey will gradually get dimmer and dimmer, naturally it will be harder to see the path ahead that you are treading towards, and it will be harder to keep going forward. As such, upon turning 60, it would do us all well to see life for what it is, to cherish what we have, to enjoy?life whilst we can, and to not take on society’s troubles or your children’s and grandchildren’s affairs for yourself.?

Stay humble, don’t act superior on account of your own age and talk down to others – this will hurt yourself as much as it will hurt others. As we get older, all the better should we be able to understand what respect is and what it counts for. In these later days of your lives, you have to understand what it means, to let go of your attachments, to mentally prepare yourself. The way of nature is the way of life; go with its flow, and live with equanimity.

For all of us, a nice read, very beautiful, very true! Hardly the day started and … it is already six o’clock in the evening. Barely arrived on Monday and it’s already Friday. and the month is almost over. … and the year is almost up. … and already 50 or 60 or 70 years of our lives have passed. … and we realize that it is too late to go back…So…Let’s try to take full advantage of the time we have left …Let’s not stop looking for activities that we like…Let’s put color in our grayness…

Let’s smile at the little things in life that put balm in our hearts.And yet, we must continue to enjoy serenely the time that remains. Let’s try to eliminate the ‘after’…I do it after…I will say after…I will think about it after…We leave everything for ‘later’ as if ‘after’ was ours. Because what we do not understand is that: after, the coffee cools… after, priorities change…after, the charm is broken…after, health passes…after, the children grow up…after, the parents get older…after, the promises are forgotten…after, the day becomes the night…after, life ends…

And all that ‘after’, we find it’s often too late…So… leave nothing for ‘later’…Because in always waiting for later, we can lose the best moments, the best experiences, the best friends, the best family…The day is today…The moment is now…We are no longer at the age where we can afford to postpone until tomorrow what needs to be done right away. So let’s see if you’ll have time to read this message and then share it. Or maybe you’ll leave it for…’later’…Cheers!

And you will not share it “ever’ ’’

Even share with those who are not yet ‘seniors’.

May you be well and happy…