I saw an article that was titled What Is Old Age For? but I like my title better.
I asked the Why question to friends and colleagues and the most frequent answers I received were we grow old to show that we are mortals, we decline and die and to know that wisdom evolves with old age.
I for one am not convinced that everyone who is old is wise but I'll leave that battle for another time.
When I ask others including myself, when do you reach old age, the answers are always 10 to 12 years more than whatever age the person is no matter how old that person is. For example, when I asked someone who was 75 how old is old they replied 88 or 90. One gal who has been ill for some time remarked that old age happens when you get sick. I thought that was a fairly wise statement.
People who paid attention to their diet and health and maintained a positive attitude in their younger years seem to move through old age more gracefully than others. I am a strong believer that we are going to get old but that doesn't mean we need to develop age related diseases and disabilities.
Even though I'm immersed in age related issues, it is still difficult for me to talk about my getting old …or being old. If I don't pay attention to my age, something often happens at a store or gas station that reminds me others don't see me as the age I feeling. They see me as older.
I think everyone agrees that in the U.S. there is a definite aversion to being old. The good news is that this aversion is not a world wide phenomenon. It is not in our DNA.
I have got to believe that the concept of aging is going to be a major conversational topic since people are living longer and have a better quality of life as they age. I'm trying to remember the figure I read in an AARP article which was something like 1 in 3 workers are now over 50 years old. That is a meaningful figure.
I like getting old because it means I get to see my grandkids, play another round of golf, help someone else put together and market their business. You have to be living to grow old!
The other thing I like about growing old is I don't have to encourage it; it is natural. I don't need money or surgery to be old. It is a gradual process so I can get use to it as it takes place.
The theories of how we age are usually based on physical characteristics. What a surprise it must have been to the experts when the research recently proclaimed that our brain continues to create neurons and connections between cells as we age. You can teach an old dog new tricks!
I think that if science and medicine focused on something other than decline they could arrive at a new definition of aging that wouldn't be as unacceptable as it is now. I believe aging has a purpose. We're just not looking in the right places.
Besides, when else can you get a senior discount?
To your successful aging.
Ruthan Brodsky