There is absolutely nothing wrong with being old, I assure you
Twice in 2 days someone else decided that I was old. What nerve! Surely I’m the one to decide whether I’m old or not. I went across to the gym yesterday after deciding that I really should go back to exercising. That’s a sign of youth, right? They were happy to see me. “We’ll just fill in this form and get you back into shape in no time.” The gym is called Great Shape – get his pun? He starts filling out the form copying information from the computer screen. They haven’t erased me even though I stopped going at the end of last year for economic and not health or age reasons. All of a sudden he puts down his pen and starts laughing, I mean really laughing. “Look at this mistake with your date of birth!” Wasn’t he the funny one? I told him to stop laughing and that it had been a great year.
Then a doctor of all people
This morning was my regular check-up at the urologist. “Everything seems fine. No more PSA tests for you.” Why not, I ask? “At your age it’s a waste of time.” I sat, stunned in shock. Six months ago I wasn’t too old, but today I am too old. In all fairness he was probably quoting the instructions of the health fund. Well, whatever it was, I was furious. Not because they won’t do the tests any more, but because they have taken the responsibility of telling me I’m old. I don’t care what they think. I’m the one who makes the decisions about my age. Is it possible I’m being ridiculous?
The Personal Money Store
What’s the Personal Money Store take on age – are there restrictions? Do they make it a Green Banana thing – everyone has to pay back their Personal Loans in 4 months, except for the over 65’s. They have to pay it back sooner, in only 3 weeks.
A bad story
I recently heard a bad story about this kind of thing. An ‘older’ man, which I take to mean that he was over, say 65, had been having dialysis at the hospital for some years. One day he arrived for his session and was told that there was no place for him because the unit was full of younger men and they had preference. He said to the clerk, “are you telling me to go home and just die?” The clerk wept, the old man was in shock; all in all a bad story about growing old. I am sure there are many such stories and all of them equally heart-rending.
It’s unfair
In many ways old age is really unfair. If one is healthy and all systems are operating in accordance with the handbook, the senior person is just like anyone else. He may move a little slower and probably does react more slowly, but he or she is right up there with you when it comes to thinking.
It’s what you make it
Like many things in life, old age will be how you make it. Like they say, expect the worst and you will probably get it. Ignore it and hope it will go away – I’m not sure this will work, especially the ‘go away’ part, but ignoring it will certainly reduce its impact on your life.
