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Not Your Mother’s Old Age: Baby Boomers at Age 65
By: Rachel Pruchno, PhD Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. Cite journal as: The Gerontologist Vol. 52, No. 2, 149–152, March 5, 2012
In comparing Baby Boomers and previous generation residents in retirement communities, the following were noted:
· Social identity and image matter [to Boomers]
· Significant cultural and attitudinal differences exist between Boomers and older residents.
· Shared age matters less than shared interests.
· Ageism was evident, driven primarily by frailty and illness. [Not a surprise. There are tiers of "old" IMHO.]
Remember the Joy of Sex by Dr. Alex Comfort? Back in 1976 he wrote a book on aging. I found these excerpts and thought I’d share them with you. He was 56 when he wrote this book and died at 80 in 2000. A GOOD AGE by Alex Comfort. New York: Crown Publishers, 1976.
From the Book:
· Ageism is the notion that people cease to be people, cease to be the same people or become people of a distinct and inferior kind, by virtue of having lived a specified number of years.
· Brain. The human brain does not shrink, wilt, perish or deteriorate with age. It normally continues to function well through as many as nine decades.
· Doctors. In old age a good physician can be your most valuable ally. If, on the other hand, you find someone who thinks that in the natural order you have to be infirm, crazy, impotent or the like, by virtue of chronological age, change doctors.
· Gerontology will not abolish old age; it will make it happen later. The extra years, unless we persist in clock-watching in defiance of all reason, will be years of extra vigor, not dependence. Old age itself will not be longer, only later.
· Leisure is a con. It should mean time when you do what you yourself want to do. It gets sold as part of the unperson package, as time in which you are expected to do trivial and useless things for which you have to pay money.
· Living in Sin is a highly satisfactory solution, at any age, to loneliness and is in favor of sexuality and mutual support if marriage penalizes you financially or if you prefer it.
· Pulling Rank is one of the pleasures of age to which you are entitled, so swallow what you have learned about modesty and nonassertion and use it.
· Retirement. Two weeks is about the ideal length of time to retire.
· Sex. Older people are and always have been sexually active, but hey are getting less embarrassed about it as the culture gets less uptight about sexuality generally.
This question made me remember back when I was young. I thought at one time anyone who was in their 30's was older than dirt. It's funny how that changes as we get older. When anyone refers to someone my age as old now I just remember how old I thought anyone over 30 was at one time so yes I suppose to them I am old.
I have to use a wheelchair when we go out so I personally think that makes you look older by default.
We recently went to a new restaurant and I wanted to leave a rating online for them. I skimmed through a few of their ratings and one guy said "it's mostly old people that go there". So, I guess that's how he sees it. God bless him, he'll be our age before he knows what hit him. The years have a way of sneaking up on you.
My mind is the same as when I was a young woman but my body says "yeah right". Some days I look in the mirror and think a stranger is looking back. Does it bother me? Not really, it's a fact I can't change. We can't stay young forever. My father died young so I try to appreciate each day on this earth.
Never regret growing old, it's a privilege denied to many.
I've been called old a lot and I'm 23. I'm already using "when I was your age..." to my sister who is 3 years younger than me.
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