Men at some time

Are masters of their fate.

— Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

A person’s life is made up of many stages, and at times we are caught up in the winds of change. While in some cases we can determine what path to take, we are masters of our fate. Even so, there is an age of everything, and during that age we do think that is the way things are supposed to be. After all, we born come see it so is suh it supposed to guh. Every tribesman thinks that his customs are the laws of nature.

There is an age of everything. There was the Stone Age, when ancient man used only materials made of stone such as crude implements designed to chisel and carve with, pound grain into powder or crush bones.

Then there was the Iron Age when iron was invented, modern tools of the time; then the Bronze Age and so on. Each one improving on the other as men were masters of their fate, making their own decisions.

But even in nature there were ages too, such as the Ice Age, when most of the planet was frozen; then the age of the dinosaurs when those creatures ruled the Earth. You catch my drift — there was an age of everything and the
Bible does give reference, ‘To everything there is a season.’

Pray tell though, what age are we living in now since all the choice ages seem to have come and gone? Is it the nuclear age? The age of wars, madness and mayhem? Man has always been at war, but the nuclear component does put a different spin on it.

What is true is that there will always be an age of something, as we are always changing; forever shifting, adjusting and shaping and justifying our actions. After all, we are the masters of our fate as we now live in the Age of Decision, as we’ll find out right after these responses to my take on

It’s all about the food’.

Tony,

Your article about food was most instructive, and as a Jamaican I often take our food for granted, until people from overseas come here and marvel at our vast and varied cuisine. It always amazes me when they carry on so much about something as simple as a curry goat or oxtail meal. But after that first bite, they seem to be in heaven. There’s definitely something about our food that has captured the palate of the world so much.

Sandra

Teerob,

You had me laughing but also thinking at the same time about our food. You are so correct, no function is a success unless the food is tasty and in good supply. And this goes across social borders too, for I have seen so many high society uptown people at fancy functions rush the shrimp bowls and gobble them down just like the wolves that you mentioned. Bad food means bad party; great food, great party. Memories are forged from the food that was served.

Tyrone

There is a time for everything, an age, an era, and as I pointed out, all are important, none better, none worse, for even the bad times make us stronger, if they don’t break us. I saw this movie, The Age of Adaline, that prompted me to write this piece as it told the story of this young lady who, by some stroke of good fortune, could not grow old.

Even as the ages came and went, she herself could not age, as she outlived all her friends, family, and everyone around her. Was that a blessing or a curse? In real life though, we have always had to adapt and accept whatever age we exist in and also age with it, even though we are supposed to be masters of our own fate.

There was the Victorian Age in old England, when Queen Victoria ruled supreme with her edicts of morality and sexual repression. It was called the age of glorious hypocrisy, as on the surface there was the façade of puritanical morality, ethics, with everyone purporting to being sexless and chaste. But underneath that veneer of respectability was a seething cauldron of sexuality, ribald behaviour which included fornication and adultery, debauchery, wanton lust, and even incest.

What an age to be in. But compare that to the age of the sexual revolution in the 1960s in USA and Europe when sexuality was flung out in the open, where free sex was the theme, nudity was the order of the day and free love was in vogue. It was the Age of Aquarius.

When the moon is in the seventh house

And Jupiter aligns with Mars,

Then peace will guide the planets

And love will meet the stars,

This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.

— Song by The Fifth Dimension

Those old enough may remember the age of the Hippies and flower power. The music festival Woodstock has gone down in the annals of history as one of if not the greatest music festival of all time, not only for the music but for the wanton sexuality. Drugs, sex and rock and roll.

But let’s take it to the individual level where it comes down to each person making their own decisions, being the masters of their fate. For example, at what age should people engage in sexual activity, bearing in mind the Victorian Age of glorious hypocrisy or the age of the sexual revolution where everything goes, or everything went, as the case may be?

At what age should youngsters indulge in sexual activity? This topic is currently making the rounds in mainstream and social media about juvenile sexuality and the age of consent, and whether those under the age of consent should be arrested and charged for indulging in sexual activity.

What age should we call this? Has the age of glorious hypocrisy returned, or the age of free love?

“Lock them up, dem too slack.”

“Allow the kids to express themselves sexually.”

The comments come as fast and furious as a 13-year-old boy on his first encounter.

So at what age should sex be acceptable and allowed among human beings? Bear in mind that many of our grandmothers got married at the age of 15 or 16 and had many children. It was the age of youthful sexuality.

And speaking of marriage, how long should a couple date before they get married? Now seems to be the age of marrying later, as so many people are delaying taking that quantum leap, that giant step of matrimony. Is that why our birthrate is declining, according to the national statistics? Marriage delayed is maternity denied.

What a cruel irony, even as people take their destiny in their own hands resulting in a paucity of babies. Is this the age of the career person and not the breeding person? Plus, how long should a man court a woman before he proposes to her? I put this question to some folks, and their standard response was, “Only about three years, not longer.” Does this pressure men to propose earlier than they planned to and put a ring on it, as Beyonce sang? Or, as the old saying goes, “Either you crap, or get off the pot.” What age should we name this? Is the man the master of his fate, or bound by some unseen law that decrees that he get married within a certain time frame?

One man said that it shouldn’t matter, then I asked him, “How would you feel if some guy was dating your daughter for eight years with no talk of marriage in sight?” This is the age of decision, even if the decision is not yours but dictated by society.

Then, at what age should a couple get divorced? Strange question, huh? But food for thought. If people get married in their 30s, older than previously, then at what age should they get divorced and hope for a viable future? There they are married for 30 years, now in their mid 60s, but now getting divorced. Is that the age of insanity?

And yet it happens, for sometimes the feeling of liberation and peace of mind far outweighs the uncertainty and anxiety of living alone in the golden age.

“I’ll take my chances. I couldn’t stand a bone in his body anymore, I had to come of age and get out.”

Speaking of the golden age, it’s the final frontier, the geriatric years when there are more pleasant and productive years behind than there are in the future, when the brain is dominated by exaggerated memories, where the mind is willing but the body says, “You must be joking.”

It’s the age of contentment for some but despair and disappointment for others who are no longer the masters of their fate. So the ages all have their place, and perhaps we are mere pawns in the chess game of life, subject to the movements of the ages.

More time.

seido1yard@gmail.com

Footnote: ‘If music be the food of love, play on,’ wrote Shakespeare in Twelfth Night, and ‘Music hath charms to soothe the savage beast,’ also a popular quote from the play by William Congrieve The Mourning Bride. Music really does have its charms and plays such an important part in our lives. Anyone who doesn’t like music, something is wrong with them. I recently saw a news clip where animals in a zoo were mesmerised by music when they heard it. As the musicians played, the animals walked over to get closer to listen. It was fascinating to watch the giant buffalo, apes, rhinos, amble over to get a closer listen. I love music, including reggae and dancehall, but I must say that the genre called trap music is utter garbage. Just some guys chanting over a track that’s going nowhere. Thank God for people like Beenie Man, Shaggy, Bounty Killa, Sean Paul, Shensea, Buju, Vybz Kartel and those of that ilk who keep us on the musical map internationally.