My Brothers: Over the Hill. Hell, the Mountain...

Hi

In a recent post by Ali Shakur, my eldest brother, entitled It's only a number, Ali tries to make his geriatric self feel good by convincing himself that turning 29 is "only a number."

In fact, in my case study entitled Ali & Umar: Renaissance Men Beyond Their Time I have found that Ali has woefully succumbed to clinical Ageium Denialus, or Denial of Age When Fast Approaching 30 and Still Single. I do acknowledge that this topic is a very sensitive one and many scholars have cautioned students of knowledge such as myself not to openly discuss these affairs with the masses, but I'm afraid I can't help it. Ageium Denialus (AD) is a progressive disease that is now knocking on Ali's and Umar's door. Or more accurately has huffed and puffed and blown their doors down.

Let's look at some text from my analysis, due to come out sometime before I die:
"25.Feb.2006: It's been two days since Subject A [Ali Shakur] has turned 29 years old. Much to my own surprise, he handled the first day of elderlyness relatively well. Of course, this was largely due to the family's collective realization that pointing out his age would ultimately lead to sheer pandemonium. Rather sadly, however, the subject has introverted his age-related anguish on the second day by posting a blog entry entitled It's only a number. We can see clear signs of AD by the following two sentences: "I have not seen a movie in two weeks! If you have a suggestion, please post it." As a scientist, I must inquire what the is the correlation to movies and age? And how did this random thought surface? Upon further investigation, I soon discovered that one of the symptoms for severe-fulminant Ageium Denialus is randominity (from Stedman's Medical Dictionary: a pathological state found in AD patients facing advanced stages of oldness where the patient will suddenly remember 'random,' but psychologically personal issues in his/her life like not watching The Simpsons in 3 weeks, not having read an Archie comic book in a few years, or not watching a movie in two weeks). I will continue to monitor Subject A with an ever watchful eye..."

Additionally, I'm ashamed to admit how this has effected Umar, too. In recent times when he has introduced himself and me in social arenas, he - without hesitation - introduces himself as my younger brother. While this on some level humbles me, I later find myself sheepishly pulling aside the individual we were introduced to and confirm what they had expected; that because Umar is rightfully embarassed to admit that he's nearly 30 he will purposely introduce himself as my younger brother as to avoid imminent societal rejection. Thankfully, due to my own self-acclaimed youthfulness and rigor (mashaAllah) the individual will respond, Yeah, I figured that one, man. But you're a brave man for taking your brother outside the house at his old age. Embarassed, I reply, Trust me, I have no choice...

Folks, this is a serious issue that we can no longer, as a community of intelligent and responsible young adults, ignore. To learn effective management techniques on dealing with someone you know who had AD, please contact me immediately.


Stay True. Stay Young.