Middle age has its compensations. Youth is bound hand and
1 b$ C; J, G% I) a7 B6 w foot with the shackles of public opinion. Middle age enjoys freedom.
; t; W, c( r N; q" A I remember that when i left the school i said to myself: __1__
' \( r2 @2 c( a3 N4 H9 P "Hence forward. I can get up when i like and go to bed when i* Y( |+ z' L u, p; _
like." That of course was an exaggeration, and i soon found that! j; X0 T3 D% B
whenever you have an aim you must sacrifice something of freedom to achieve
8 j7 y2 k; t! N& g. w8 e& M it. But by the time you have reached middle age you discovered how __2__
: S. V; X! \! v' O! m" ^1 d f2 H3 R# R much freedom it was worth to sacrifice in order to achieve any aim that __3__
# v6 I! l" _/ t/ ~4 I& J you have on view. When i was a boy i was tortured by shyness, __4__
9 [9 _' M2 F# _' j7 z0 W ?! i and middle age has to a great extent brought me a relief of this. I __5__/ m; U5 @" q" D5 j) d3 \! G1 k* J
have now no such feeling and i save myself much discomfort. I always
/ j& L! Z6 W* J4 g1 {! J# M! } hated cold water, but for many years i bath in cold seas because __6__
4 B" j7 b3 V$ @3 v i wanted to be like everybody. __7__0 [) w' ?8 \6 ^
It was until quite late in life that i discovered how easy it was __8__
" e) F0 x: {1 J8 S to say:"i don't know." i find with middle age no one expects me to4 g; }9 A, Y% A* ]
walk twenty-five miles, or to play a scratch game of golf, or to dive1 M% p& c% i! g. k
from a height of thirty feet. This is all to the good and makes life
& D- G$ n2 o; c+ N pleasant, but i should no longer care if they do. That is what makes __9__
) K, h" Q. D* H6 ? youth unhappy, the vehement anxiety to be like other people, and
6 z8 | I9 }% _' w that is what makes middle age intolerable, the reconciliation with __10__
$ `. S0 Y3 A8 R oneself. |