Yes, gliders.
The early to mid 20th century was filled with fascinating technologies in the field of war that begun with such promise but essentially went nowhere. One of these (that figuratively and literally went nowhere), was the glider.
Think of this concept; an engineless airplane towed in convoy into battle by a single engined plane like the carriages of a train and let loose, to be essentially crash-landed by its pilot. You may control the roll, pitch and yaw, but without an engine, that plane is on a one-way trip earth-ward.
For people like me, the idea of glider-borne infantry conjures up images of commando raids, stealth missions, and daring dos.
Today, you may imagine a glider sailing down as metaphor for a term that has become apt to describe everything from human exploitation of the planet to the economy of certain countries; 'Glide slope'; That shallow yet unstoppable dive, from the sky to the unforgiving ground.
And here, I unleash my silly theory.
You recall that bubbly girl from college with the pretty face, ample bossom and perky... everythin else? Or that cute guy with the toned body, washboard Abs and timbre in his voice?
Then you caught up with them again after college, after a few years in corporate life.
Should I be the first to admit the disappointment in how these exquisite creatures now seemed... well, less exquisite?
Everything was still there. The bubbliness, the ampleness, the perky... everything else. But some how, they seemed to have peaked. The changes were subtle, but things were less perky, the washboard now seemed to have a rolled wet cloth folded over it and the ample was now better described as just 'big'.
Basically, the spring had gotten a bit loose, less taut.
Why? Because I believe, the average age of a human being as dictated more by evolution, biology and peak form is actually about 24yrs of age.
Sure, modern medicine and healthcare means we now live well past 70, but the human body can evolve only so quickly, and we still peak at about 24. After this time, we're on a glide slope towards our inevitable death.
Put differently, until our mid twenties, our bodies and minds are still being formed. Then we become these perfectly crafted designs around mid twenties. Thereafter, those perfectly formed tissues so well wound, begin to unravel. Slowly at first, then increasingly fast. As described in my earlier post about 'brain damage', our minds start to move from their keen capability, sharp wit and abundant abstraction to a noisy, sputtering, smoking engine, grinding itself to its own eventually destruction (unless whatever fault line existing right at manufacture decides to kill us first)
When you get closer to 30, you start looking at 21, 22 and 23yr olds and suddenly notice something you failed to appreciate when you were that age.
Let me not romanticize my recent youth. They aren't all attractive or even youthful, but by a large, the system is as freshly minted as it will ever be for that person. Then comes scratches, and the smell of 'new' is lost forever.
Not to give validation to an 'okay' move, but like was said in 'Troy(2003)', 'We will never be as beautiful as we are now. We will never be here again'
But before this appears like the rants of some early mid-life crisis, the point of this piece isn't to bemoan the loss of youth, but to celebrate life, even past that so-called well-oiled stage, especially since, sadly, culture, social-conditioning and tiresome patronizing by our academic system renders most of us at this most-productive age little more than mouths to feed , rather than the keen-minded, able-bodied übermensch we ought to be.
As the 2nd half of the original title for '(Everyone is free to wear) Sunscreen' goes, 'Advice, like youth, often wasted on the youth'.
The point of this piece therefore, is to acknowledge the phenomenon of an earlier peak than most may want to accept, and as per my initial illustration of the humble glider, to celebrate the 'glide slope'
Yes, while your body and mind may have begun suffering from entropy, we should learn a thing or two from the skilled glider pilots, who managed to accomplish their mission and land their crafts precisely where it needed to go, when they entirely lacked an engine to do much more than guide their vehicle successfully in its inevitable crash landing. They didn't give up immediately they got into their cockpit because they were on a one-way trip, or get nostalgic about those moments when they were in tow, and could feel the engine of their escort aircraft. They accepted the inevitability of their destination, and flew in like bosses; or as bosslike as they could muster and some, such as those who landed on Pegasus bridge on the morning of June 6th 1944, got to carve their names and exploits into the annals of history.
After all, isn't that the point of life, even after our prime? Turning our inevitable mortality into a legacy for the ages, while deftly guiding these mortal vessels towards a smooth, gentle and inevitable landing.
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