On Old Age

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.