Growing Old In Our Society Today
Welcome back!
In our quest for the Fountain of Youth, perhaps some consideration should be given to how society is going to react to all of us “age defying” seniors.
I recently came across an excellent article written by Bob Moos of the Dallas Morning News, which covered the new book by the famous Dr. Robert Butler called The Longevity Revolution.
The American public seems to be in denial about growing old and our society as a whole is not ready for the millions of Baby Boomers about the reach old age.
Many things were covered in this article and such topics need to be addressed NOW if we are going to enjoy our senior years as the healthy, happy and productive people we want to be. Some of the topics covered were:
- Ageism – we talk about racialism and sexism, but what about ageism? How many jokes have you heard about John McCain’s age?
- Financial Security – did you know that almost half of the Baby Boomers have retirement savings of less than $50,000?
- Medical Care – in addition to the rising costs and the poor state of our health care system that we already know about, there are not enough physicians being trained to treat diseases of aging.
It’s obvious that more and more seniors will continue to have to work. Our society will have to change its present stereotypes about older employees in order to accommodate them. Not all of us can hide behind our computers and the internet (like me!).
GOOD NEWS
Dr. Butler isn’t all doom and gloom. He’s come up with some innovative ways to meet the challenges of the aging population. And he feels that the Baby Boomers who were so instrumental in making changes in the 60s can do so again.
I say, “Hear! Hear! Fight On!” I’m ready to dust off my beads and flowers – where do I sign up?
