We’re Getting Older
When Social Security first came into being in 1935, our life span was thought to be about 70 years at most. Now, we have learned so much medically and nutritionally that people are living far longer. In 1776, someone born in the US was expected to live to about 35. Lifestyle and technical advances have more than doubled that figure. The National Institute of Aging projects that by the middle of the next century, life expectancy will be nearly 92 for women and 86 for men.
Today, more than 35 million are over the age of 65 (that’s about 1/7 th of the population) and with the baby boomers coming of age, the Census Bureau in the US predicts that the over 70 million born between 1946 and 1964 will reach retirement age.
Until recently, ageing was regarded with disdain, with an expectancy of waning vigor and even social uselessness. But the stereotypes are changing and seniors are becoming more and more interested in true-life long learning, healthy lifestyles and political activism. We are truly seeing a population reinventing itself. In many of our own minds, ageism still exists.
Dr. Robert Butler, in his insightful, ground-breaking best-seller, “Why Survive: Being Old in America” (Harper & Rowe, 1975), defines ageism as:
“. . . a process of systematic stereotyping of and discrimination against people because they are old, just as racism and sexism accomplish this with skin color and gender. Old people are categorized as senile, rigid in thought and manner, old-fashioned in morality and skills . . . Ageism allows the younger generation to see older people as different from themselves; thus they subtly cease to identify with their elders as human beings. . . . Ageism, like all prejudices, influences the self view and behavior of its victims. The elderly tend to adopt negative definitions of themselves and to perpetuate the very stereotypes directed against them, thereby reinforcing society’s beliefs.” (pp 12-13)
Are YOU ANTI-Aging?
Instead of acknowledging aging as a normal, natural process that can and ought
to purify us and help us to continue our spiritual growth, ageism teaches us to
fear our aging process. Society teaches us starting when we are very young to
deny it and as we reach middle age and older, to do all that we can to prevent it.
In fact, there is a whole new longevity field that presents itself as ‘anti-aging.’
Want to learn an alternative way of viewing aging? What if there really were spiritual lessons to learn
through the process? Would you want to know what they are? Click here to find out more
