The aging population

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

Davesnave wrote: »

I think it's important to go on thinking you are invincible as long as possible, maybe not in the devil-may-care ways of youth, but by refusing to accept limitations suggested by the law of averages.

For example, the average 80 year-old doesn't ride a racing bike or wear jeans & trainers, but someone I knew did, until the age of 89, when he decided he was getting a bit wobbly and ought to dress more appropriately. The point is, it was his decision and he wasn't pressured into it, so he made the transition to old man when he was good and ready.

He still managed 6 years as an 'old fogey' too. Personally, I think that's quite long enough.

I feel exactly the same about aging,after all age is just a number.
Since getting older myself I've noticed that there are people who reach a certain age and seem to take on the role they feel they should be playing instead of being who they are and maintaining there identity.
I had to laugh the other day when I took the bus into town,the whole bus apart from a couple of students was full of pensioners and as I was sitting at the back of the bus looking forward it was like looking at a field of cauliflowers with their silver and white perms.
My point being that these older people all dressed roughly the same too had lost their individuality and had adapted the look of a typical old person.
It's lovely to see an older person dressed quirky and why should'nt they,they're no different to anyone else.

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

suburbanwifey wrote: »

Why on earth would anyone not want to not die? When we get ill, we go for treatment to get better so we don't die, people who get cancer endure horrific treatments in the hope of staying alive, yet many of you are saying you would not choose to live forever? I know I would and I don't ever want to die, though at this point in history, that isn't an option that I can exercise.

I would have thought we all would want to live forever, what are your reasons for not wanting to? Life does get better as each generation passes, you are missing out on a future that will probably be better than our present, why don't you want to see that? I know I do ...

You could offer me anything in the world to live forever and I would'nt take you up on it.
I'm happy with my natural lifespan.
I also don't agree that life gets better with every generation,things change yes but not necessarily all for the better.
Some good will happen but I bet there'd be a lot you would'nt like too.
Apart from that if you could choose to live forever it would be an extremely selfish thing to do.
We here now have to make way for a new generation and leave space and resources for them.
We'd get very overcrowded if none of us died.

StevieJ

treliac wrote: »

It's funny you should say this DN. We've just got back from the outlaws. They're both quite young in attitude and up to date in many ways but FIL commented on 80 year olds who parade around in jeans and trainers. They think 80 year olds should 'look' what they are (as if they are trying to deny it, I think) and FIL doesn't feel right unless he is dressed 'properly' in trousers and a shirt.

But surely that reflects how they dressed in their youth anyway.

Loughton_Monkey

If we all stopped dying, it would be fun trying to shop around for the best annuity rate for our pensions. Using an expected life span of infinity, then you would get purely "interest only" (less charges/profit), which would erode by inflation over an infinite period to precisely nothing.

New Government announcement. "From tomorrow, the state pesnion retirement age will be 110. However, in view of decreased mortality, it will rise by 1 year per year."

ceridwen

suburbanwifey wrote: »

Why on earth would anyone not want to not die? When we get ill, we go for treatment to get better so we don't die, people who get cancer endure horrific treatments in the hope of staying alive, yet many of you are saying you would not choose to live forever? I know I would and I don't ever want to die, though at this point in history, that isn't an option that I can exercise.

I would have thought we all would want to live forever, what are your reasons for not wanting to? Life does get better as each generation passes, you are missing out on a future that will probably be better than our present, why don't you want to see that? I know I do ...

Where do I start?:rotfl: Its rather a long list.....

I cant speak for anyone who endures the rather horrific treatments that are what are currently on offer for cancer....though my guess would be that they endure it because they have a spouse and/or children they dont want to leave yet. Many times - from what I can see - where someone is so ill that they can choose whether to live or die then they have made the choice to continue to live usually because there are still children they are bringing up. That is entirely understandable - and commendable in fact.

I can do exactly what I please personally - there arent any children to take account of anyway (never had any.....).

So - what does getting older mean to me personally that I want to know there is a pretty well-defined point at which "enough is enough" and thats the end of this life?

- Greater degree of financial and emotional security than I had when I was younger (thats the plus side of the equation). I dont have to worry NEARLY as much about money as I did when I was younger and that is a great blessing to me. Emotional security = like a lot of us - I am a lot less concerned about what other people think of me than I used to be. If people choose to disagree with me/dislike me because I'm different to them/etc - its not such a cause for concern as it is for younger people.

*******************

The negative side of getting older:

- In our present society I can see that the basic ongoing trend is "downwards". Since I became an adult I can see that unemployment benefits are worse/old age pensions are worse/there are even more people around (which includes - more cars, more planes, more of the countryside being built on, etc). There ARE no advantages whatsoever to having so many more people around than when I reached age of majority - but there are one heck of a lot of disadvantages.

- Most peoples health deteriorates to some extent as they get older and I have been no exception to that. My health is a lot better than most peoples of my age - but it is still worse than it was in my 20s.

- Peoples looks deteriorate as they get older. Yes...I know....someone the other day called me "shallow" for being concerned about that - but it isnt nice to know that you were once attractive, but its "all downhill" now....

- The older one gets the more aware one becomes of just how "vulnerable" we all are to things going round in our lives - we have either experienced all sorts of bad things we thought we never would ourselves or we feel "vulnerable" to them (ie because we've seen it happen to people close to us).

- Overall picture = there is a limit to what any of us can do/achieve/etc in any one lifetime. Some of us are more constrained than others - because of lacking something basic (eg good health/enough money to live on/etc). BUT - even if we personally don't have any of the major "downers" that most people get....and even if we personally don't experience any problems with health/money/getting let down by people we trusted/etc - there IS only so much experience we can get within the confines of being that sex/that nationality/etc/etc that we personally are. After a while - we are just "recycling" the same sort of experiences over and over again and have done everything its possible to do within our particular lives again...and again....and again...yawn!!! Personally - I shall do my best to get what new experiences/meeting new people I can until Year X (whenever that is....) - but there are limits to what one can do thats fresh/new/one can learn from.

- Again...personally..it depends on awful lot on how one thinks and what one believes happens when one "pops one clogs". Personally....to me that will equal total absolute freedom and security and no longer being constrained by the need to make money/look after my health/etc and how could that be anything other than a blessing?
(NB: I do appreciate here that not everyone shares that view obviously....:)).

treliac

ceridwen wrote: »

- Most peoples health deteriorates to some extent as they get older and I have been no exception to that. My health is a lot better than most peoples of my age - but it is still worse than it was in my 20s.

- Peoples looks deteriorate as they get older. Yes...I know....someone the other day called me "shallow" for being concerned about that - but it isnt nice to know that you were once attractive, but its "all downhill" now

Presumably, if we were to live forever, these deteriorations wouldn't occur. I wonder at what point we would become 'static' - would we get to choose?