INTERNATIONAL DAY OF OLDER PERSONS – break out your Polygrip
Friday, October 1, 2021
We all crack jokes about aging.
They’re initially funny – that is, until we become punch lines.
Some say, “getting old sucks.”
When I keep my hair and beard trimmed very short, I look younger (possibly better!), so I keep trimmed. And, for several years, I’ve sported ‘great looking dentures’ where teeth used to be. Now I stock up on Polygrip and Polident products when on sale.
Beyond that, like most of us getting older – we notice no significant day-over-day changes or year-over-year differences.
What sucks, primarily, is being dismissed or discarded as irrelevant. What sucks even more – is seeing ourselves as irrelevant or less valuable. Some, sadly for health reasons, are far less able to function independently without supports.
For most, however, age should not be, and need not be, an excuse for inactivity or lazy attitudes.
The only ‘how we are seen’ that matters ~ is how we’ve chosen to see ourselves. Getting older and thriving, a weird recipe: lifestyle, genetics, where on the planet we live and what we’ve been led to believe.
We’ve been fed loads of crap about aging by dodgy-motived purveyors. To those politicians, governments, financial institutions, mass-media/advertisers, and actuaries, we’re factored in – simply statistics.
Marketers see us (baby boomers) as a ripe market, panting for their wares, their schemes and time-share delusions. Con-artists and telemarketers see us as weak-in-head prey, easy targets, suckers …
Getting old, being old, staying old is something we can see optimistically or pessimistically.
That choice, in my view, sets our course.
For most of us, days start with underwear we pull on first thing every morning.
For others, it depends …
P.S.: it’s INTERNATIONAL DAY OF OLDER PERSONS/2021 – here is s ome background from the UN - International Day of Older Persons … On 14 December 1990, the United Nations General Assembly designated October 1 as the International Day of Older Persons ( resolution 45/106 ). This was preceded by initiatives such as the Vienna International Plan of Action on Ageing , which was adopted by the 1982 World Assembly on Ageing and endorsed later that year by the UN General Assembly. In 1991, the General Assembly adopted the United Nations Principles for Older Persons ( resolution 46/91 ). In 2002, the Second World Assembly on Ageing adopted the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing , to respond to the opportunities and challenges of population ageing in the 21st century and to promote the development of a society for all ages. The composition of the world population has changed dramatically in recent decades. Between 1950 and 2010, life expectancy worldwide rose from 46 to 68 years. Globally, there were 703 million persons aged 65 or over in 2019. The region of Eastern and South-Eastern Asia was home to the largest number of older persons (261 million), followed by Europe and Northern America (over 200 million).