Continued

It is not all peaches & cream though.

I do have to hurry up & visit those old friends, the buggers keep popping off regularly, 2 of them in the last 6 weeks.

I do get sick of hurting, & if that doctor gives me any more pills to take, I'll have to give up eating to fit them all. It would be nice to be able to stop hurting long enough to get to sleep some nights.

I miss being able to walk around all the cars at a classic car show, & would love to ride a horse again, if only I could still climb onto one.

I do find it a little frustrating how long it takes me today to master a new skill. My son home from the navy, living in my granny flat, has a couple of remote control model aircraft. I was surprised how different flying a model is to the real thing, but at least I didn't damage the one I crash landed.

I have bought a remote control simulator for the computer, designed to teach 10 year olds how to fly the things. I am getting there, & have only taken twice as long as those 10 year old, so not too bad for an old bloke.

I have bought a cheap & nasty one to do a bit of private practice with, before trying his nice ones again.

You know, tough as it is, I wouldn't be dead for quids.

Ageing - What can we expect, as we grow older?

The experience and the meaning of ageing differs not
only from individual to individual, but also from
one social and historical context to another.

For example, being an adolescent today is very different
from being an adolescent fifty or a hundred years ago,
In fact, being an adolescent right now is a different
experience in some respects than it was even a few years
ago, for people who are born at roughly the same time have
a common history that is unlike that of all others in their
society. These people experience the same events differently
than do those who were born earlier, later in life.

Another influence on the meaning of ageing and on the
relationships among different age categories is a society's
age structure, the relative proportion of different age
categories in a population. If a society happens to have
a high-proportion of non-working children or young people
or old people an extra burden is laid on the working
population, for its members are expected to share much of
what they produce with a large number of dependents.

Naturally, this situation can increase the likelihood of
competition among different age strata for their share of
society's resources. Children, however large their humbers,
have little direct political influence; but a large aged
population may be better able to protect its interests.

Today, the aged are an effectice political force, and they
do press for improved Social Security and other benefits.
Also, today social gerontologists take a rather more
positive view, one that stresses diversity among the
elderly and recognises that many of them draw great
satisfaction from the final stage of the life course.
Gerontologists point out that most of the aged have modest but
adequate incomes, own their own homes, drive their own cars,
are fully capable of getting about on their own, and need
relatively little in the way of social services.

Even so, the aged still have some distinctive problems,
the most obvious being the possibility of poor health.

cont'd...

cont'd ...

Advancing age inevitably brings with it a series
of health problems, for the human body gradually
degenerates with the passage of the years. Of course,
the rate at which people appear to age varies a great
deal, and people of seventy or eighty may be healthier,
and even seem younger, than people twenty years their
junior. Nonetheless, a certain percentage of those
over the age of sixty-five suffer from some chronic
health problems, and although the aged represent a
small percentage of the total population, they fill
many of all hospital beds, and use a large percentage
of the drugs prescribed each year.

The most common ailments suffered by the aged include
arthritis, diabetes, glaucoma,
cancer, heart disease, and senility.
Diseases that can usually be treated, but not cured.
Senility is perhaps the most notorious disability of the aged
as far as the rest of the population is oncerned, but the
condition is rare among people under seventy-five, only thereafter
does it become more common.

Yet, if people live long enough dependence becomes inevitable.
Extreme old age, beginning around the eighties, is
accompanied, sooner or later, by a slowing or even crippling
of mental and physical processes. Unable or unwilling to
take care of an elderly relative, younger family members may
arrange for the aged person to move to a nursing or old-age
home. This prosepct is hardly an appealing one, however, at best
it means living in an unfamiliar environment where one
relies for medical and oterh needs on a professional staff
rather than on family. Some homes offer suberb facilities,
but many are dreary, shabby, and ill-equipped places, run
by people whose concern is not the best interests of the elderly
but rather whatever profit they can wring from the enterprise.

Today, fewer than one in five dies in a familiar context.
Most meet death in a hospital or nursing home.

Hi there STEVE101...

You've certainly described a economic blueprint governments may have, concerning current and future social security structure ? Do you believe it contains sufficient allowance for the fiscal needs of the aged ?

You assert that government expenditure far outstrips what taxpayers pay into the coffers of government, and not all of that expenditure is earmarked for social security, moreover even less for aged care ? Older people are remaining healthier therefore working longer and earning more ? Consequently depriving their progeny from inheriting from their estate, rather then relying on their own income to get ahead and establishing a sound foundation for their own retirement ? A most interesting hypothesis ?

Thanks STEVE101.

Hello there FOXY & HASBEEN...

Both of you have provided a thoroughly good appreciation of what aging means for you ? From the onset of senility to combating increasing pain levels. Interestingly, neither of you have taken a pessimistic outlook of your own aging and the potential negative consequences of becoming old ?

Those poor souls living alone would find it quite hard to motivate themselves, into doing something productive. Whereas I firmly believe part of the secret of keeping aging at bay, and the deleterious effects of aging, is to undertake something positive ? Using your mind, by engaging in reading and writing, even providing commentary on some of the topics on this Forum as an example ? Just try something, rather than simply drifting into a state of oblivion or vegetation ?

From the sound of it, neither of you, FOXY or HASBEEN, have much to worry about, considering how sharp you both are, judging by what you write, and in the erudite way you write ?

Dear O Sung Wu,

I think for many people whether or not their retirement is a
happy one seems to depend largely on how financially
secure they are. I am doing everyting I possibly can to ensure
that finances will not be a problem for me in my old age.
I would hate to be a burden either to my family or the state.

Also I agree with you that retaining an active life after
retirement is important as well. This reduces feelings of
uselessness, boredom, frustration and depression.
Of course isolation is not to be confused with independence,
which involves the ability to control one's own life. Many
of the elderly fear losing that independence as a result of
ill-health or financial problems. I was taught from a very
young age -
to be self-sufficient and autonomous, and understandably
fear the shift from the role of an independent person to a
dependent one - so I am preparing for the worst-case
scenario in my old age. Hopefully I shan't be a burden to
anyone and will go on contributing to society for a
very long time - even after I retire.