Sometimes when we want to define something and we lack the words, we fall back on defining the word by saying what the word is NOT.
For example: This column is about being old, so to define the word, I could say old is not being young and we all know what young means since we have all been there. You cannot say that about being old since some do not reach that level of maturity. I do not know of any formal definition of what “old” means but there are hallmarks that are generally accepted which suggest that level has been reached for example when one is qualified for Social Security benefits, a plateau which generally places one in the senior category. But even then, there is disagreement. So what does it mean to be old? Well it depends.
For some, old never exists because defining it causes one to admit to oncoming human frailty, not good news to those who defy the calendar’s inevitability. A friend used to say that he thought an old person was someone who was older than he was; he was in his youthful mid eighties. This was his escape clause to perpetual youthfulness by his definition.
Then too, it depends on whom you ask. Should you ask a kindergartner whom he would consider as being old, he might say anyone who has mastered the art of cycling, who is allowed to cross the street without parental supervision, who has his own room, who is allowed to spend the night with a neighbor or camping out in the back yard. Old to this 5 year old might actually be someone who has celebrated his first teen birthday or less. It is a relative thing. Ask the same question to a teenager and you possibly would learn that an old person is one who is married with children, someone who is confused with the electronic marvels of the day, someone who gets 8 hours of sleep each night and who watches Lawrence Welk on television, someone who is ‘uncool’ and not on social media.
Medical professionals might classify one as old should certain physical manifestations be present for example loss of stamina, hearing, sight, hair pigmentation, appearance of wrinkles and other obvious measurable physical characteristic. The mirror does not lie which reminds of the joke I read recently about the wife who complained to her husband about her being fat, wrinkled and old and then asked her husband for some positive comment. He replied, regretfully, that while she did have some problems, at least, he said, she had good eye sight.
For some, old is not wholly a physical trait but equally a mental or social trait that makes for a defined old person. Someone who shuns the world, who avoids social activity, who lives only for himself ignoring the needs of others, someone who is afraid of change, content to live as in the “good old days,” someone who is ‘set’ in his ways, knows it and resents anyone who suggests something different.
Old means not having to take algebra again and finally, old means that school is out, FOREVER!
There are a few distinct advantages.
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Bill Lee
P.O. Box 128
Hamer, SC 29547
