Proverbs 20:29 The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old.

Some cultures, like the Japanese and the Korean, honor their old people. They recognize the wisdom and value that older people can provide for the younger. There is an enriching that takes place where there are multiple generations eating together on a regular basis.

We on the other hand put our old people in “The Villages” in Florida. We separate them from the rest of society in strange, unwelcoming to young people facilities. We force them to play shuffle board and ride around in golf carts so they can’t do too much harm to each other when they plow through a stop sign.

So that leads to old people attempting to hind in plain sight. They die their hair strange colors in an attempt to not look old. “At least it isn’t grey” seems to be their mantra.

We also have specialty doctors and clinics to erase the signs of aging, the wrinkles and the spots, the sags and the flabs. We force them into swimsuits and put them in the pool doing exercise, as though they were small kids in a daycare. All this in an attempt to make old go away.

But our text tells us that grey hair, the most visible sign of age in Western cultures, is a splendor. A splendor? How is that possible? Grey hairs are to be plucked or colored. Put a hat on it.

I still have both strength and grey hair. So am I old or young? But I have noticed in the last two years, that my strength seems to be fading. I guess I could go to the gym and try to regain my strength in order to not own the “old” status.

Why don’t we just celebrate the grey, the fact we have survived and still thrive, even in old age. We still have much to contribute, so we should do just that. We mustn’t let our age get in the way of our work for what really matters.