Sixty Does NOT Equal Senile
53The worst thing about getting older is the realization that everyone under 30 thinks that everyone over 60 is senile.
A few years ago, I was part of a focus group that listened to a lawyer present a case and then gave opinions as to how a potential jury would react to his presentation.
The case involved an older couple who were suing an insurance company for allegedly selling them insurance that they neither wanted nor needed.
The lawyer played to the general assumption that older people are easily confused and the victims of scams. He deliberately only placed the wife and not the husband on the stand and framed his questions to portray her as having not understood the papers she had signed.
A discerning listener could hear otherwise. The lady was well educated, her husband was a successful businessman, albeit retired, and they were very well off financially. Anyone paying attention could see that they both were intelligent and alert.
At the end of the case, we were asked for our impressions. I was shocked at how many people under the age of 40 who felt that the big, bad insurance company’s sleazy salesman had taken advantage of the poor little old lady.
I will be the first to agree that SOME older people are easily confused. I am sadly aware that Alzheimer’s is a growing problem. I readily admit that there are scammers out there taking advantage of both senior citizens and others not so old.
But, I refuse to believe that once we turn 60 or 70 or even 80 that our brains turn to mush. That we are suddenly unable to think logically and can no longer keep up with whatever is happening in the world.
Unfortunately, that stereotype is embedded into the minds of the younger generation. As every generation before them – including us a few years back – they think that anyone over a certain age is ready for the nursing home.
They think we sit around all day in our rockers and drool.
They would be surprised to know that many of us are leading active productive lives, well past normal retirement age.
They would be astounded to learn that many of us don’t feel any older in our minds than we did when we were 30 or 40. We are still able to work crossword puzzles and sudoku puzzles and yell out the questions to the answers on Jeopardy – before the contestants on the TV.
We enjoy travel and beauty and good music – although we may disagree about which music is good.
Age is not a number. Old is when one no longer enjoys the wonders of learning new things.
The next time you meet an “old” person, reserve judgment until you get to know them.
