Bob Dylan shared the pros and cons of aging in a rare op-ed tied to Donald Trump’s 80th birthday.
With the president turning 80 (and celebrating with a UFC bash) on Sunday, the New York Times asked several prominent octogenarians — like Liza Minnelli,
Robert De Niro, Art Garfunkel, and the 85-year-old Dylan — about the best and worst things about the milestone birthday.
“The best thing about being 80 is that you outlive the clocks that have been chasing you. It’s freedom from that lie that anything was ever under control,” Dylan said about turning 80. “You don’t chase the parade anymore. You’re an old king from some vanished country. You’re harder to program.”
On the downside, however, “The old fire in your heart still tells you to do this and that, but your body says we already did it. Also, nothing surprises you. It sounds like a luxury but it’s not, and also you’ve run out of illusions,” Dylan wrote.
However, “The really worst part about being 80 is that you find, at last, you’ve got an understanding of something that might have altered everything in the past, had it come at a time when something could still be altered. When you’re young you think that time moves forward. At 80 you know that it doesn’t, it stands still. We’re the ones that move.”
Unlike the other participants in the op-ed, Dylan did not provide any advice for Trump specifically on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Noted Trump critic Robert De Niro did impart some wisdom, however: “The president doesn’t listen to advice. He surrounds himself with feckless clowns who keep their positions by supporting his every whim. If I were able to pierce the shell of cruelty, greed, corruption and stupidity for one piece of advice … I would advise him to get some good advice from good people, and follow it.”
The 92-year-old Gloria Steinem also shared some simple birthday advice to Trump: “Resign.”
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