In
a tiny corner of an English paper the title of a short article drew my
attention; it read: 'The oldest dog in the world died at the age of
125'. I was incredulously surprised. I know something about dogs because
I love them and had once lived with 13 all at the same time. I never
imagined a dog could live through the 19th, 20th and 21st century!
It
soon dawned on me that it must be of that man-made calculation of each
dog year equals 4 or 5 of that of man, or something like that. This dog
in the print was Japanese. That might have explained part of the
wonder, as Japanese people, women especially, often present the very
notable longevity of life, due to their very healthy and regular diet
of little meat, but much vegetables, Tou Fu, seaweeds and fish. The
article cleared up the mystery in 4 short lines. This dog, in the
locality of Sakura, had died at the age of 26 after a sudden illness.
According
to the Guinness Book of Records, the oldest dog recorded was
Australian, died in 1939 at the age of 29; that is, 29 real years. I
began to try to imagine how such an old dog, 26 or 29 look like? Would
they be very much the same as when they were 15? Experts would surely
think my question stupid, obviously they won't look the same, but I am
no expert to tell a dog's age, except by their energetic, or lethargic,
strides or desire to play; whether they respond to your commands
rapidly, eagerly, or comply reluctantly, or ignore your orders all
together.
It's
much easier to guess the age of human, Men that is, I can tell fairly
accurately, within 3-5 years range, whether he is 30 or 40 or 50. Women
though, are very hard to guess accurately. To play safe or not to
offend, I always deduct about 5 years less than what I actually think,
should I be cornered into playing the guessing game. I hate it. Some
women, those who had done a tremendous amount of work to seem younger,
and constantly seeking compliments from others to confirm that their
hard work pays off, would urge for a reply. If you tell the absolute
truth as you believe it, you become an unforgivable enemy.
What
I feel is, why should anybody, men or women, be so preoccupied by
their own age or that of others? We all know appearance doesn't always
represent truth. We must have all come across old people who are only 30
of age, yet some very young ones who are over 90; haven't we?
