Gerascophobia: Fear of the Mad-Fall
By Seraphine Khorana on November 25th, 2009Posted In: Comics
I'm not afraid of growing old; I'm afraid of *being* old. But I'm not aged yet-- and tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day-- so I'm thankful for having the opportunity to grow a bit older.
I'm also thankful for having love in my life, and I'm thankful for YOU, dear readers.
Worried you will die alone,
You expect the crucifix
Around your neck to save your soul.
A hint of growing old, and losing beauty.
Fear of impaired mobility.
Your face deteriorates
as your insides decompose.
Lyrics from Burning the Masses, Gerascophobia (Gerascophobia is the fear of growing old)
Yeah, but then Rick Springfield has turned 60 and still pumps iron, still has long hair, still tours all over, plays “Red House” by Jimi Hendrix and The Who’s “My Generation” in concert and I say: “Age-Smage”!
You Rock and Happy Thanksgiving Sera!
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yep those are all the things i fear in one song lol… i don’t come from a healthy gene pool… but i am happy tonight because you just said the sweetest words to me
cheers Sera! here’s to the never ending story!!! love ya babe don’t ever change we’ll do lunch
because I work with old sick people I am especially afraid of what aging does to us and have a list a mile long of things i don’t want to get like arthritis, bunions, dementia, emphysema, gout, heart disease, macular degeneration, osteoarthritis, vascular disease……Eat well, do moderate exercise and don’t smoke! then maybe you’ll only get half these ailments instead of all of them
The old donkey is always a child in his brain!
One young man once said: “I’d rather be dead than singing ‘Satisfaction’ when I’m forty-five”.
You got it. This dude was Mick Jagger. 
Got to look it up in Wiki. I wonder how it’s possible to cure gerascophobia.
The phobia has been around for a long time, I remember when the Beatles song ‘When I’m sixty four’ topped the charts.
Paul McCartney’s inspiration was his father Jim, then 64, a former music hall performer who led Jim Mac’s Jazz Band of the 1920s.
The Beatles rendition captured the older lyrics of a fear of growing old and of a music hall style revival adaption reminiscent of the roaring twenties and thirties.
The song begs the question of whether the love and strong feelings addressed to the receiver in letter format will result in her still caring for him when he is older, before he agrees to marry her.
Best wishes
I don’t fear getting old, I don’t fear death, I fear dying …
A Thanksgiving (and otherwise) blessing to have found you.
Have a good one – surrounded by those you love.
No fear!
And I am thankful for your art, writing, and You!
The wisdom and experience they are the antidote to old age?
I think we should live every minute with intensity not to become gerascophobia….
This is funny and sad at the same time. But, as Mr. Spock always says, “Live long and prosper”.
Have a nice Turkey feast, may it be stuffing.
By the way, your cover photograph is exceptionally good this time!!!
Fully embracing our mortality makes us appreciate life deeply. Change will come but we’re surrounded by lessons of timelessness.
Happy Thanksgiving, dear Seraphine.
Well, I’m 45. I don’t feel 45…have been told I don’t look 45… I know this will sound corny and trite, but I swear it’s true: it’s all about a youthful spirit. Forget about the numbers. They only carry the significance you attribute to them. If you embrace yourself with grace, age simply falls by the wayside, and wisdom takes it’s place. …and wisdom is far more intoxicating, alluring – and sustaining – than most of what youth has to offer.
I’m in my 40’s but often I still feel like 16. Being a little loopy and cheerleader-ish keeps
me young looking and far away from being cynical. Seraphina, you blog continues to
rock in encore-land.
I don’t want to be physically impaired to the point I can’t rely on myself anymore. Other than that, getting old isn’t too worrisome to me. Plus, I’m too busy worrying about more important things, like sharks, bears, and killer rabbits.
Great reflexion: the problem is not growing older, but beeing older. You have done a fabulous illustration with this idea. Have a good Thnaksgiving day
Some relics of the past are always close to us… we are in the present younger than them.
back on the road to the future!
Bonne fin de semaine!
I’m just afraid of losing my memory when I get old.
Growing old isn’t what worries or bothers me (besides, how can I be old when, like Cynthia, I’m still al kid in my minds eye), what bothers me is not having done anything with my time.
quite interesting comic strip. nice piece of art. I think it’s one thing most people possess, fear of growing/being old. but we have to understand that its part of the process. . unless you want to die young like Jim Morrison and the gang.
will follow this blog
It’s so cool to read people’s thought on this topic, Sera . Love how your topics are thought provoking . For this one – all I can say – I do not like to die old and ugly
))
Look back at Faye Dunaway in Bonnie & Clyde or The Thomas Crown Affair from the late 1960’s/early 70’s. Then look at her today. She is awesome. So are you! Don’t worry about age, Sera. Rock On!
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All best wishes to you, Sera!
No fear! Being old… that’s all in the head!
it’s not age i fear so much as being decrepit. i want to be strong and able and getting around and doing things when i’m old. ….of course, i’m older right now than i expected ever to be way back when…. all things are relative.