– Decisively, when does youth end?

By M Margaret Burke
INTERESTINGLY, old age can only commence when youth ends, but there are some problems with this. Both the young and old seem to have some difficulties making up their minds at what age youth should end and until there is a decisive answer, there can hardly be any conclusion on when does old age begin.

Guyana Chronicle Pepperpot interviewed a number of young persons between the ages of 18 and 35, most of whom had differing views on when old age really begins; however, they were mostly consistent on not being fully conclusive on when youth ends.

Expressions of the youth
Patrice Simone said that from the time he started growing up as a child, people would always ask, “How old are you? They never ask how young are you? Therefore, I would have to conclude that from the day a person is born, they begin to age, and as long as they live they just get older.” As a young man, he did not define aging in terms of a specific number, but as an everyday event, in which people grow older every day.

However, when quizzed on defining ‘real’ old age by a number, he concluded that when a person reaches “half of a century,” then maybe people can start thinking of them getting down in age.

Trevor Smith, another young male, said, “People having reached the age of retirement, maybe, just maybe, can be considered old. I say maybe, because as far as I am concerned, some people who are considered old and have to retire from their jobs are more able-bodied that some of our young people.

“I see some big people ‘mambo’ and do far better that many young people in and out of the office. My mother, for example, would do some things that I don’t even know if I can do them; the woman is fit, she is physically strong, and she is quick; she is sharp!

“If I have to put a number to old age, then I feel safe to say, maybe from 65 – after retirement.”

Sonia Garfield, a young lady, said, “As far as I am concerned, old age has to do with how a person feels and looks. You see, a woman or man can be big, big, like 50, 60 or even 70, but because of how he or she is taking much care of his or her body, they look good and even feel good about themselves. I see that over and over. On the other hand, some people look so old so fast, that you have to wonder if they were ever young, and the thing is that they might be younger than me, because I am 35, but many people guess my age between 25 and 27.

“I would say that old age has to do with not just the number, but how you look and feel about yourself, also how people treat you. For me, old age would start when I am probably in my 60s.

“It is like a flower that must begin to wither…after blooming for amount of years, then one has to give up or might I say give in to time and begin to know one’s place; this is that you are getting old and must accept it gracefully,” said Marlyn Latcher. She said that the age of 37 and being the mother of five children, while she feels good about herself, she also feels that it is time for her to step down and give her daughters time to now shine. “They are now young, not me. I want to give them the chance to enjoy youth and we can’t all be in the same place at the same time,” she said.

Many other young people interviewed expressed similar views; most of them had a difficulty making up their minds on where to put a number to commence old age. They generally felt that age is just a number

Older adults on the go, keeping fit
Meanwhile, adults who were interviewed – between the ages of 55 and 75 — all concurred that age is not necessarily an indication of aging, but that it is just a number. Almost all of them said that they felt many years younger, and was certain that they looked younger too. The only difference was most of them preferred to remain anonymous.

Albert (only name given) said, “I believe that old age should start at age 68, because right now I am 65 and I do not feel old as yet. To be honest, I can go the length with some things like I used to before, but many people much younger than me are not able to do so either – ask my son, he said, with a smile on his face.

“Because of maturity, I think faster than my son, but the thing is that I do not know if he would ever be able to think like me. I try my best to train him, but when I was his age I was doing much better. Then I would try him out with one and two things; test my strength against him and so on, and I find that [at] age 44, the man can’t even do some of [the] things that I do,” he concluded.

Mrs Patterson declared, “The older I get the younger I feel. There was a time when I used to feel so old and ashamed of myself. I had gained a lot of weight and my husband was giving me all the problems in the world. I used to feel like I was going crazy and so those feelings caused me to feel old and cold.

“But now, now I feel so young at 66. I have remarried and feeling good about me. My husband is five years old than me, but he too would tell me, ‘Girl, you sure you are bigger than me? I can hardly catch up with you and I would laugh.” She says that she really does not know at what age to really put: ‘starting to get old,’ but to be on the safe side, I would say when you are in your 60s you can say that you are getting old.”

Global studies
Studies done by many media houses — as well as universities and other institutions — have not all come up with a particular age when people are no longer young and when they can be considered old. However, there seems to be one trend with the age at which people can concede that they are at least getting old, and that age is in their late 60s.

It would seem therefore that people are people all over the world, because most of the young people here, as well as the older folk felt the same that close to 70 is a more acceptable age for getting old. The young people are also trying to ensure that they remain young for a longer time. It has also been widely established that people today are living longer, working longer and contributing more in their later lives.

(mercilinburke2017@gmail.com)