Thinking differently about old people

I will soon see my sixty-fifth summer. Once upon a time, I actually thought of that as being “old”.

For much of my life I never really planned on living this long. As Hall of Fame baseball player Mickey Mantle once put it, “If I knew I was gonna live this long I’d have taken better care of myself.”

Actually, I’m blessed with fairly good health. I may “look” old and wrinkly (in places), but in my mind I mostly don’t “feel” very old at all. In fact, within my spirit I still feel quite young - maybe even younger than a lot of the young people I know.

Which leads me to share the following words; (the author of which is unknown)

"I asked an elderly man once what it was like to be old and to know the majority of his life was behind him. He told me that he has been the same age his entire life. He said the voice inside of his head had never aged. He has always just been the same boy. His mother's son. He had always wondered when he would grow up and be an old man. He said he watched his body age and his faculties dull but the person he is inside never got tired. Never aged. Never changed. Our spirits are eternal. Our souls are forever. The next time you encounter an elderly person, look at them and know they are still a child, just as you are still a child and children will always need love, attention and purpose."

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Since nearly half the world’s population will soon be over the age of 50, we all need to start thinking of older people differently.

It’s impossible to quantify the amount of accumulated wisdom and goodwill that many older people can bring to the communities in which we live - even after we retire from a career.