Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1961-10-20
By HOWARD WHITMAN
Sixth of q Serieal

By HOWARD WHITMAN
Sixth of a Series)
Why does a man who has
been happily married for
years suddenly veer off in
middle age and start cast
ing a come-hither eye in
sundry directions?
Why does a woman, when
she has stopped counting her
birthdays Cor has begun
counting them backward,
become a bit flirtatious, a
bit hungry for adventure?
Not all middle-aged men
and women do. But some do.
And many who don't never
thelesS feel a bothersome
little tug in a rowing direc-
ton.
Why? Middle age is sup
posed to be that peaceful
plateau when we settle down
to tranquil living, the fires
Of impulse having been
banked and the Goals Of pas
sion modulated to a con-
trolled and steady glow. Why
then this sudden, unexpected
flare-up?
'Middle-Age Panic"
Often the answer is mid
dle-age panic. a common
malady. Life in our youth
worshipping Western culture
has been misrepresented to
the point where many misin-
terpret middle age as the end
instead Of the middle. They
forget that with a current
life expectancy Of close to
10 years. middle age Is but
the beginning of the second
half Of life. Yet they act
and feel as If it we're the
end.
Hence, the panic.
Anthropologist Margaret
Mead gives this thumbnail
portrait Of how the modern
man in his 40s feels about
himself:
Here he is, only in mid
die age, and his life is over
no new love, no new fields
to conquer, only emptiness
ahead. So while he is not
out Of a job-indeed he may
often be at the height of
his work-strength-th very
nature Of the life-cycle in
America is such that he feels
like an old man. He may
have to fight very hard to
resist the impulse to break
away from it all. :"
I remember fliers during
World War II taking off
from bases in England on
their missions every dawn.
Many of these young men.
in their emotional lives, were
panicky. too. Each mission
might be their last. And so
when you met them in Pic
cadilly on their 24-hour
passes, they acted as if each
night might be their last.
The man in middle age
has a far more certain fu-
ture. Statistically, he has an
average Of 1876 years to live
if he is now 40. 29.1 years If
he is now As, and 24.9 years
If he is now so.
Excess of Time
Yet the expression "one
last fling" betrays the mid
dle-ager's fear that time is
running out. Factually, it
isn't at all. A study of our
aging tables points to an
opposite problem today: That
many individuals are going
to have more time to live
than they know what to do
with.
Beneath the panicky CROP
ing for one last fling may
be factor most men would
hate to admit: A fear that
not time, but rather male
prowess may be running out.
And the female, too, may
feel the niggling fear that
her sex appeal may be nil
and she, too, is drawn into
the last-fling panic.
Such individuals percep-
ton Of life is out of focus.
The woman who fears she
has lost youths attractive
ness is quite right. But how
could it be otherwise?
The danger is that If she
keeps pursuing what can
never be regained, she may
lose middle-age's attractive
ness, too. She can be a highly
attractive, highly desirable
middle-aged woman, but she
can only be a second-rate
imitation of a young girl.
Accept the Fact
The man of 40 or so, with
his thinning hair. his glasses,
his paunch. his tendency to
tire easily and to fall asleep
in the shank of an evening
should net be fearing that
he isn't young anymore. BY
George. he ought to be &C
cepting the fact and going
on from there.
If he sets out to prove he