Published: July 04, 2009 10:58 pm         

Aging is inevitable, oldness is a choice

Human beings are, thankfully, a diverse species.

We don’t look alike, think alike, believe alike, talk alike or act alike, and the world is a better place for it.

But there is one thing all human beings have in common. We all age.

The clock’s second hand marches inexorably around the dial, the sun rises and sets, the calendar changes, no matter how hard we try to make them stop.

We all start out young. Someday, God willing, we will all be old.

But that begs the question, how old is old?

That’s a bit like asking how high is up, but it still presents an intriguing question.

The Pew Research Center recently asked some 3,000 American adults when a person becomes old.

Not surprisingly, the benchmark for oldness kept changing as the respondents became older.

Those 18 to 29 said anyone over 60 is old, while for those 30 to 49, the state of olditude began at 69. For those on the very cusp of oldness, those 50 to 64, 72 marked the transition to the state of old.

Not surprisingly, those 65 and up don’t think a person becomes old until they hit 74.

Of course people of a certain age, when asked if they themselves were, indeed, old, denied it. Among those ages 65 to 74, only 21 percent considered themselves old. For respondents age 75 and older, that number climbed to just 35 percent.

The signposts on the road to old age are many and varied, according to those responding to the poll. The leading indicator, chosen by 79 percent of those surveyed, was reaching age 85.

Less popular, but still mentioned by 13 percent of respondents, was having gray hair. I have gray hair, but I don’t think that makes me old. Besides, I am grateful to have what little hair I have, no matter its hue.

For 51 percent of those surveyed, a person becomes a citizen of Old Land when they forget familiar names. I guess I really am old. There are days I can’t remember my own name.

I don’t feel old. Of course, hardly anybody else does, either. People in their mid to late 50s, which is roughly in my neighborhood, told the Pew folks they feel 10 years younger than they are. That trend held true clear through those in their 80s.

There are inevitable consequences to the inexorable march of time. Body parts sag, wrinkle, shift and begin to hurt in ways they never have before. Hairlines recede, as do gums, eyes and minds weaken and joints begin to ache.

Such is the price of aging. Becoming old, however, is another matter altogether.

Baby Boomers are fighting oldness tooth and toenail. We are buying hair dye, opting for botox treatments, investing in anti-wrinkle cream and burying our noses in recipe books filled with anti-aging recipes, in record numbers.

There are brain games to keep our minds in good working order and drugs such as Viagra to keep other parts working.

Juan Ponce de Leon went looking for eternal youth and wound up discovering Florida. Just his luck.

Aging is a physical state, becoming old is a state of mind.

But that’s just me, and Lord knows I’m no Albert Einstein. Except, that is, when it comes to my attitude about age.

“People like you and I,” Einstein once wrote to a friend, “though mortal of course like everyone else, do not grow old no matter how long we live. We never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born.”

So, fellow curious children, let’s see where this great mystery takes us next.



Mullin is senior writer of the News & Eagle. E-mail him at jmullin@enidnews.com.