Young to old, or old to young?

[Trieste]

Having watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button last night, I find myself thinking about the way the main character aged. If you aren't familiar with it, I'll tell you that it's about a boy who is born old. Like Chronos in the Incarnations of Immortality series, he goes through his life gaining experience and maturity, but physically de-aging. He gets his infirmity out of the way as a young child, progressing from a wheelchair to crutches to a cane and so on... but he watches everyone around him grow old, suffer, and die.

The movie is very sad, but it got me thinking about the transience of everything we have... and whether I would choose to age from old to young or from young to old... What about you?

[Lilias]

I haven't seen the movie (and I want to), but as ageing goes, I wouldn't change the progression from young to old for anything. I want time and experience to graft itself on me, until I end up a map of the routes I've taken.

Too many people are afraid of looking old instead of being old. But illness and infirmity have no age, and it is only fitting that the bloom must fade, together with the rest of the world.

The first thing my son's birth gifted me with was a bunch of fresh grey hairs, during a particularly brutal labour. Would I wish that undone? Simply, no.

[Sho]

I'd rather age from young to old because everyone around me would be doing that and it would give me a longer time to be with those that I loved, at least romantically, relative to how they aged. Also, reverting to the age where I didn't know how to use the toilet would be a bit embarrassing for me. I also, sadly, haven't had the time to see the movie yet.

[Trieste]

It's a super-awesome movie. I really loved it, although I cried, I cried like a baby. I cry at movies pretty easily (call it catharsis), but I think I cried harder at this one than I have in a long time.

[The Overlord]

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was fascinating, entertaining, original and creepy all at once. Being able to go through that reverse aging process is to live out something abnormal and tragic as the main character did. Not my idea of full and fulfilling life at all…I’d rather opt for ‘C’; reaching a comfortable level of maturity and then aging no further. Forty would be a good place to stop.

Plus the end was really downright creepy when he expired; creepy like in a 2001-a-Space-Odyssey-starchild-blankly-staring-spacebaby-way. Gave me the willies.  :-\