You seem to be talking about the age of 40 in a specific time, rather than the abstract 40. I think by the time one is 40 they have full responisbility for their actions. The excuse of being a silly wild passionate youth is gone.
I don´t feel a man is a man until he is 40. Dustin Hoffman had an interesting take on it. In an interview I saw of him once, he said that when he was young he couldn´t talk with a woman, any woman, without thinking about sex. Now that he has gotten older, it was like getting a monkey off his back.
The arrogance of youth should have left by the time one is 40. I think men become more sensitive and vulnerable at that time. Their hair has thinned, they are getting a belly and they are more humble.
For everyone, physical prowess is dimished and death seems more real and nearer and one is more aware of it. By the time one is 40, a few friends or relatives have passed on. The seeming invulnerability of youth has gone, and we all realize we are not invulnerable.
For women, the childbearing years, and all that entails, are coming to an end. A new meaning of life comes into focus. Many women begin new careers, as their children gain maturity.
It can be tragic to see a (physically) beautiful woman who has not learned to develop other attrubutes, come to terms with seeing her beauty fade. We all see that with the aged beauty queen with too much make up and too youthful cloths. Learning to age with grace is not easy in our youth enthralled society. There are few role models.
Beautifully put Alameda.
Dustin Hoffman has always been one of my favourites and he just seems to get better with age. Robert Redford too.
Personally, I´ve never worried about getting older but I´m thankful I´ve been blessed with good skin. I´m also thankful that I´m not in the public eye. I think celebrities are under so much pressure to keep up appearances, especially if they have been lauded for their good looks.
But actually, if you´re talking about Hoffman then the tense should be past as he was talking about his youth. I understand his comment to mean he has learned how to relate to women as he has aged, which means that whatever influences he had as a youth, they have been overshadowed by what he has learned as he lived his life. Perhaps he actually listened to the women he met and learned from them.