Turning 65
I wrote this 13 years ago, and the points made are still relevant. I’m inviting anyone who has become a senior citizen to add their own thoughts, complaints and observations.
I’m turning 65 this month. I say turning for many reasons. It’s like turning a page to a new chapter. I’m officially OLD!
Even the United States of America sent me a card — a Medicare card. I’m turning because I don’t do things so fast anymore. Although I’m still very active, I have slowed down. And I watch the world going by so fast. It’s not just me. That’s a fact.
And how about phones? It took nearly half a century until everyone had a telephone (we now say phone or cell). Today, you see everyone talking to themselves until you realize they’re on their mobile, which gives them mobility. When people are on their phones, I sometimes think they are talking to me. Even if you have the old-fashioned communication device in your home, it’s not attached to the wall of the house. This transformation took only about 20 years.
All these new-fangled things that didn’t exist even a few years ago, most of us baby boomers can’t figure out. I would like to suggest some simple inventions for God, the ultimate inventor. How about pockets in our bodies to store all these new things, even old ones like keys and my glasses? Those clapper things don’t work. We need more than 24 hours in a day. With all the new gadgets, we should have more time, yet somehow we all seem to have less.
It’s supposedly easier to communicate today. It doesn’t matter if you are in the next room or somewhere around the world, you are contacted via the latest way of communicating. You get a call, text or whatever. I find this somewhat sad. No more cheery notes. The mail today is just bills, ads and solicitations. Does the Salvation Army really need to solicit? Haven’t people heard of them by now? The money spent on printing, paper, postage, to say nothing of the company to design the copy, could be used to help people. Then, they wouldn’t need to solicit in the first place! Although I admit, no matter when I die, I will never run out of return mailing labels.
Senior discounts are nice, but aging also comes with pains, medications, wrinkles, excess weight, jiggly arms, etc. Signs of aging can be badges of courage — wounds of experience and hopefully wisdom. Yet no one wants your advice. Will they be writing this essay in a generation?
But here I am, better than the alternative. I’ve witnessed so much– the final frontiers:
- outer space and a human on the moon
- depths of the oceans
- a black American president
- conquering polio
- inroads over many diseases
- amazing inventions like computers
You can log on to your computer to read about all these innovations and explorations of the past 65 years.
Plus, I have lots of company. Baby boomers make up the largest percentage of the population and have experienced all these amazing changes. Thanks to some of these changes, we should be around for some time yet and in relatively good shape.
We ROCK ‘n ROLL ‘n RULE!
Please leave your comments below.
Read more by Ada Mark Strausberg.