Sometimes I find myself saying someone is "old." The other day I told Kris that someone who is "old" to me is someone who is 10 years older than me -- which means "old" keeps changing. The nice thing about this calculus is that I'm never going to be old. Nice thought, don't you think? It means today that someone has to be at least 63 for me to consider them old. How do you determine who is "old"?
Now being 10 years older than me doesn't mean you have to be considered old. For instance, our friends in Florida, Jim and Bonnie Panther, aren't old. I think they are about 10 years older, but they are way too young and like us to be considered old.
Which means, there are only three real ages for me:
1. There are the "old" -- 10+ years older and act like it;
2. There are folks "our age" -- and that means anyone who is like us in all sorts of ways;
3. And there are those who are "young." They are age-wise younger and aren't like Kris and me in all sorts of ways.
(College kids and younger are not yet "young"; they are still kids. They get in our sights when they start working. My two children and their spouses are now "young.")
My colleagues Brad and Barb Nassif and Boaz and Sarita Johnson are "our age" but I think Joel and Karla Willitts and Genevive and Peter Dibley are "young". If you still stay out late on Friday night or Saturday night, you're "young." If you are regularly home on Friday night by 8pm or so, you are "our age." If you eat dinner at 4pm so you can go to the matinee, well, I suspect you are "old."
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I hopped over here from Susan Speer's blog and wonder how connected we are-- are the Panthers you speak of from Libertyville? And I taught Boaz and Sarita's kids at Christian Heritage for a while before we moved down south to Florida. The world is small.
And I turned 30 this year and therefore am not young. But that's ok with me.
#32 Dianne
"At the end of the day, my reference point is (surprise, drum roll….) ME!"
I think we have hit upon a question of hermeneutics here! And it is a hermeneutic with which I strongly identify.
;)
I don't really like classifying people by age. Some of the people I relate to the best are 20+ years older than me, and some are 10 or more years younger. It bothers me when people start to get so self-conscious about their age, as if they're not allowed to be friends with anyone too far from their own age. I just want to hang out with people I like. I don't care how old they are. I just don't think in terms of age. Most of the time it doesn't even register.
based on the Friday night classification, i am both young AND old :-D in college, you do what you gota do to keep things cheap!
i have always told my parents that no one is old until they are 90. but then my great grandmother turned 90. she was still alive and kickin! her physical body was quite old, but her spirits were still very young. to me, age is just a number.
At 59 am I old? Had prostate cancer last year and spinal stenosis (narrowing of the openings for nerves in the lower back). Does my age and recent medical condition make me old?
I teach high school (networking and hitech content) and my kids always want to know how old I am. I tell them "older than dirt".
Just took eight months off from working ou, all I did was walk. Back in the gym. The surgeon and the back specialist limited my some workout (no leg press and limited squats to 450 pounds). I don't think that's old!
The people that I work out with are around my age and use the same sort of weights, are they old.
We dance, do a lot of charity work, travel and generally have a good time. Much more than a few years ago.
Being around teenagers I find that the people I know voer fifty seem to be in better condition and do more the the kids ever thought about.
My mother is 82 has nerve damage in her legs and trouble walking. She has a store dealing in turquoise jewlry and still goes to work. Is she old.
What is old? Is it age or is it a state of mind--or a state of mind and body?
Tom
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