Having received my Ph.D. during my fifth decade, I seem not to realize that I'm old. I'm having real trouble in this area and am positively enraged at the agism in this country, well in the world actually. Some of us are really behind the times. I don't even have arthritis, cancer, dementia, aching joints (well, some), or the need for a walker or oxygen. I can't figure it out. But you know what? A lot of old people are just like me. Why is retirement pushed at us all the time? I know several people who have no plans to retire because, guess what, they love what they're doing. They haven't as yet worked 30 years at some job just to get retirement pay. They actually can think and act and produce and create and run and walk up stairs and have skin that isn't sagging (too much) off their arms and bellies. It's a wonder. From the general attitude of the general public, it seems that anyone over 59 should be sitting at home watching TV commercials to see what medication they really should be taking, researching supplemental health care, and reading brochures on nursing homes--not that there aren't some smashingly gorgeous nursing homes out there! Just like grand spas but Oh so expensive.
One day, I was keeping a doctor's appointment for help with yet another bladder infection. The lady came in and started to tell me about the two main reasons for women getting these horrible nuisances, 1) having sex 2) being dry as older women tend to be. She almost lost her sari when I said, "Well, I know I keep getting these because of so much sex" and I meant it. It was a clear case of being an age where others dictate to you what and who you are. At 60 something, we are all sick, crippled, and in need of a multitude of medications or we'd be dead. Sometimes these constant reminders of how old I am just makes me feel old.
Rebutal: Me dost think thou protesteth too much (if you will). I have been retired for the better part of 20 years. I began young enough to more fully enjoy not being tied to a 9 to 5 life. As an older single parent I spent precious time with my children and now my grandchildren. There is not an activity I could have enjoyed more. Without much money I was still able to travel quite liberally,albeit with a certain lack of luxury, and wrote a novel as yet unpublished. Materially accomplished during retirement - no. Emotionally rewarded - yes. Mikie
ReplyDeleteMy argument is culturally prompted, not personally. I, too,find a great deal of emotional reward in this life, but that doesn't negate the fact that a value system is at work here that does not work well for a large percentage of our population. I felt this way before I even got old. It's an unfair, disrespectful state of being, and we lose by keeping this "ism" so ingrained in our psyches.
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