Old Age

by Irwin Lengel
(Lakeland, FL)

Today I feel like discussing the subject of “old age”.

Much of what I write about comes to me by reading numerous studies on countless subjects many of which talk about the aging process. For instance, many news articles today discuss the subject related to ‘at what point in life a person is considered old.’ It doesn’t take much thought to realize that answers to that question are primarily dependent upon the age of the person being asked the question.

For instance, if you asked a group of youngsters – with the key word here being “youngsters” - when someone was considered old – chances are those youngsters would probably say individuals in their late teens would qualify as being old. Similarly, it would not surprise me that young adults (late twenties up to say mid-thirties) might consider 50 as the magic number when it comes to becoming a member of the “old “generation.

But then again – ask someone in their early sixties and they would probably respond that they themselves would not even begin to think about being old until they reached their seventies. See where I am going with this? If we asked someone in their 70’s chances are they would say old doesn’t happen until one reaches 80 and so forth and so on.

For the most part though – many studies would indicate that once someone reaches say their late sixties or early seventies, in all probability one could be considered to have reached “old age” and my educated guess is that one would not get many arguments on the subject.

Taking this old age question a bit further let’s look at the question: What makes a person old? Is it the color of their hair? I had a high school buddy that lost most of his hair before he was age 23 – did that make him old? What about the person whose hair turns prematurely white at a young age – my cousin’s hair turned white at a very young age. How about their physical activity? Had someone told me when I was much younger that I would be dancing, exercising, and traveling as I do now at age 75 – I would have told them they were off their rocker!

So much on the topic of being or getting old! Fact of the matter and the point I am trying to make is just this: You are only as old as you make yourself.

That’s all for now! Until my next posting!

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