To see the complete essay "On Old Age" please go to: http://www.slideshare.net/dgooler/on-old-age
About a year ago, I turned 65. The rational part of me argued that this birthday was no different from any other day. The condition of the world the day before I reached this milestone was qualitatively the same as the day after my 65th birthday. And yet: Is there any significance to reaching age 65?
Some things do change on that birth date. You qualify for senior discounts in the fast-food restaurant, on public transportation, at the movies. You get to sit in the Disabled and Senior Citizens seats in the subway, train, or bus. You qualify for Medicare. Little things, yes, but you notice. And something tells you things are different now.
My thesis is this: Reaching age 65 is indeed significant, but much of the significance is symbolic or inferential, established more by societal norms than by the individual’s experience of turning 65..
I think we pay particular attention to our 65th birthday because, unlike the birthdates we have experienced before this one, the 65th carries with it an historically ascribed assumption of old age. Age 65, arbitrary or not, figures into our social consciousness as a portal of some kind, a dividing line. A short-hand expression of this social assumption is that at age 65 we become a “senior citizen.”
Let’s come back to the issue of age 65 being seen as synonymous with old age. My personal issue with the Age 65 designator is not that it is false (for, indeed, I am undeniably Age 65), but with the correlation of this birth date with the onset of a social phenomenon labeled “old age.” More precisely, I am concerned about the connotations that attach themselves to the category old age.
I may be making too big a deal about an issue no one cares about. So what possible difference could it make in our day-to-day lives if we are thought by some socially-derived normative measure to be a manifestation of old age? Does our age dictate what we feel, or do, or think? And is “old” age qualitatively different from “middle age,” or any other marked period of our lives? The right answer is NO, it makes no difference that we have lived 65 years. No, we don’t think old age, we don’t act old age, we don’t feel old age.
NO may be the ‘right’ answer, but not, at least in my case, precisely the correct answer. We may object, strenuously even, that 65 is no portal to old age in today’s world. The age may have held some importance in the past, but not today. The moniker of old age was coined at a time when people faced a relatively limited lifespan and 65 was indeed very old in relation to that expected lifespan. The associations which append to the traditional image of Age 65, the preponderance of which are negative, no longer have validity. There are days when I will champion this point of view, but other days when I know 65 means something, and I am not sure I like what it means.
A thorny issue concerns our definition of old age, not least the issue of when, in general, that epoch in our life begins. I like to start my search for definition by going to The Source: The Oxford English Dictionary. The definition given in that masterpiece of compilation is this:
Old age: The later part of life; the period of life after youth and middle age; the state of having existed for a relatively long time, usually with reference to deterioration
The earliest recorded use of the term old age, in English, is cited as approximately 1450, So the idea , indeed, the designation of old age as a definable concept has been with us for a very long time. Note, however, the OED is silent on when “the later part of life” actually begins.
In her engaging work, The Coming of Age, Simone de Beauvoir writes of old age:
The time at which old age begins is ill-defined; it varies according to the era and the place, and nowhere do we find any initiation ceremonies that confirm the fresh status. (p. 2)
For the sake of argument, let’s accept the definition of old age as time following the passing of one’s 65th birthday. What kind of issues must we deal with, if we suspend our incredulity at the thought of being of old age, and think about our future? These are the questions I take up in this series of essays On Being 65.
So what difference does a day make? What happened to me on that day, and for the days following, was a dawning realization that somehow, I had slipped into old age. I don’t know where the thought came from, nor why. But with some conviction, I started to think about myself differently. I can articulate no coherent justification for this feeling. I should know better. I have read fairly widely in the literature of adult development, and should recognize that no single day in one’s life, barring some catastrophic event, should change one’s sense of himself, yet I felt it happen.
Reminder: to see the full essay "On Old Age" please go to: http://www.slideshare.net/dgooler/on-old-age
References:
Frequently asked questions. History. Social Security Online. Found at: http://www.ssa.gov/history/age65.html. Retrieved August 24, 2008)
Changes you can expect through the aging process. Found at: http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/changes-you-can-expect-through-the-aging-process-325137.html. Retrieved August 24, 2008.
Sleep facts about aging that you must know. Found at: http://www.articlesbase.com/sleep-articles/sleep-facts-about-aging-that-you-must-know-400387.html. Retrieved August 24, 2008.
Sex and old age. Found at: A study made by pioneering sexologist Alfred Kinsey showed that about one quarter of males is impotent by age 65, one half at 75, and three quarters at 80.. Retrieved August 24, 2008.
Why we age and how – the mystery. Found at: http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/why-we-age-and-howthe-mystery-181990.html. Retrieved August 24, 2008
Aging and migraines. Found at: http://www.articlesbase.com/diseases-and-conditions-articles/aging-and-migraines-211412.html. Retrieved August 24, 2008.
Entrepreneurs just getter better with age. Found at: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/entrepreneurs-just-get-better-with-age-11816.html. Retrieved August 25, 2008.
Exercise Is Associated with Reduced Risk for Incident Dementia among Persons 65 Years of Age and Older. Found at: http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/144/2/73. Retrieved August 24, 2008.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
PREFACE
It is widely believed that with age comes wisdom. Perhaps not wisdom in an absolute sense, but increased wisdom relative to the amount of wisdom one has as a younger person. Such wisdom, it is felt, provides a small balance to the loss of so many other characteristics we possess as a younger person.
Just recently, I reached the milestone called 65. While there is clearly nothing either more wondrous nor more sinister than reaching any other birthday, there is much that tells us age 65 is of singular importance, not the least of which is our eligibility for Medicare. On the occasion of my 65th birthday, however, I felt, not wise, but uncertain about so many things. I looked about for the wisdom I have allegedly gained over the years, but found I could not spot an altogether significant amount. Perhaps, I reasoned, I have simply not done the self-assessment that would lead me, or any other rational person, to recognize the wisdom which some hold to be a birthright.
So I have decided to explore my thinking a bit, across a variety of issues and ideas, to see if I do possess any age-related wisdom, or if I have accumulated experiences, events, ideas that have come to define my life, but that cannot in any reasonable form constitute the type and amount of wisdom we’ve come to expect, or at least hope for, as we age.
My explorations will take the form of a number of essays, In which I seek to describe and explain what I think about some issues of the day. I like essays. They represent to me a meld of scholarship, analysis, and speculation. An interesting essay to me is one in which the author has identified an issue, idea, or problem worth thinking about, has prospected the available narratives about the issue, and has drawn some conclusions that represent the intersection of the author’s life experiences with the observations of others who may have explored the same intellectual or emotional turf before.
Why go through this exercise? I’ve several reasons for pursuing this project. The first is entirely ego-centric: the crafting of essays seems to me to be a means of getting my thoughts in order, about some things that seem important in the scheme of things. I find as I have aged that I have a significant number of untethered thoughts residing in various parts of my brain (I think), and I would like to see if I can put these thoughts into something a tad more coherent. Not that I object in principle to random thoughts roaming about in my head; but I have always been an organizer of sorts, so this project seems a natural extension of inclinations in my life.
It is my hope that these essays will be of interest or comfort to others approaching or having just past the 65 marker. Demographic statistics suggest there will be a lot of us, in fact an unprecedented bulge in age profiles. There are times and situations in which reading the perspective of others, on some ideas of mutual interest, stimulates the mind, and helps us make sense of our own world. I do not pretend, nor assume, that the essays contained herein will mean something to everyone post-65; the variation in the human species is just too great to imagine anything appeals to everyone. But perhaps there are some readers who will find this effort interesting, and will join in the building of this blog.
And finally, I want to write to my children and grandchildren. I’d like them to know what their father or grandfather thought about things at a point in his life. The idea, I guess, is to try to share what passes as wisdom, or at least reflection, on to next generations. I do this not because I am a model to be emulated, but rather a person who reached an age to reflect on things, for whatever those reflections are worth to those in the extended family who follow. My wife, Alice Dodd, does this kind of thing in her own way: she composes memoirs about her experiences and her thoughts. In fact, she teaches others the skills needed to write such memoirs. I suspect she and I are doing much the same thing, using different vehicles, but wishing to describe and think about the things that have mattered over the years. I’ve read many of her memoirs, and find them fascinating. As we met and married later in life, there is much about her I don’t know, much she has experienced that I was not a party to. The memoirs are invaluable to me in learning who my wife is. Maybe our children will learn a bit more about who we are (and were) if they read our essays and our memoirs. I hope so.
It is widely believed that with age comes wisdom. Perhaps not wisdom in an absolute sense, but increased wisdom relative to the amount of wisdom one has as a younger person. Such wisdom, it is felt, provides a small balance to the loss of so many other characteristics we possess as a younger person.
Just recently, I reached the milestone called 65. While there is clearly nothing either more wondrous nor more sinister than reaching any other birthday, there is much that tells us age 65 is of singular importance, not the least of which is our eligibility for Medicare. On the occasion of my 65th birthday, however, I felt, not wise, but uncertain about so many things. I looked about for the wisdom I have allegedly gained over the years, but found I could not spot an altogether significant amount. Perhaps, I reasoned, I have simply not done the self-assessment that would lead me, or any other rational person, to recognize the wisdom which some hold to be a birthright.
So I have decided to explore my thinking a bit, across a variety of issues and ideas, to see if I do possess any age-related wisdom, or if I have accumulated experiences, events, ideas that have come to define my life, but that cannot in any reasonable form constitute the type and amount of wisdom we’ve come to expect, or at least hope for, as we age.
My explorations will take the form of a number of essays, In which I seek to describe and explain what I think about some issues of the day. I like essays. They represent to me a meld of scholarship, analysis, and speculation. An interesting essay to me is one in which the author has identified an issue, idea, or problem worth thinking about, has prospected the available narratives about the issue, and has drawn some conclusions that represent the intersection of the author’s life experiences with the observations of others who may have explored the same intellectual or emotional turf before.
Why go through this exercise? I’ve several reasons for pursuing this project. The first is entirely ego-centric: the crafting of essays seems to me to be a means of getting my thoughts in order, about some things that seem important in the scheme of things. I find as I have aged that I have a significant number of untethered thoughts residing in various parts of my brain (I think), and I would like to see if I can put these thoughts into something a tad more coherent. Not that I object in principle to random thoughts roaming about in my head; but I have always been an organizer of sorts, so this project seems a natural extension of inclinations in my life.
It is my hope that these essays will be of interest or comfort to others approaching or having just past the 65 marker. Demographic statistics suggest there will be a lot of us, in fact an unprecedented bulge in age profiles. There are times and situations in which reading the perspective of others, on some ideas of mutual interest, stimulates the mind, and helps us make sense of our own world. I do not pretend, nor assume, that the essays contained herein will mean something to everyone post-65; the variation in the human species is just too great to imagine anything appeals to everyone. But perhaps there are some readers who will find this effort interesting, and will join in the building of this blog.
And finally, I want to write to my children and grandchildren. I’d like them to know what their father or grandfather thought about things at a point in his life. The idea, I guess, is to try to share what passes as wisdom, or at least reflection, on to next generations. I do this not because I am a model to be emulated, but rather a person who reached an age to reflect on things, for whatever those reflections are worth to those in the extended family who follow. My wife, Alice Dodd, does this kind of thing in her own way: she composes memoirs about her experiences and her thoughts. In fact, she teaches others the skills needed to write such memoirs. I suspect she and I are doing much the same thing, using different vehicles, but wishing to describe and think about the things that have mattered over the years. I’ve read many of her memoirs, and find them fascinating. As we met and married later in life, there is much about her I don’t know, much she has experienced that I was not a party to. The memoirs are invaluable to me in learning who my wife is. Maybe our children will learn a bit more about who we are (and were) if they read our essays and our memoirs. I hope so.
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