By Rick Banas of BMA Management, Ltd.
Curiosity got the better of me last night. I couldn’t stop wondering about how old do you have to be before you are considered old.
After all, in recent weeks…
I met an individual who took up wood carving for the first time in his life at the age of 92. At 96, he carved the Gettysburg Address into an 8 foot high display. At 98, he spends a portion of virtually every day working on wood carving projects in his assisted living apartment.
Cheered on a 92-year-old resident of our affordable assisted living community in Decatur, Illinois, as she bowled a 256 in the semi-finals and a 244 in the finals of the Illinois Supportive Living Wii Bowling Tournament. The woman is legally blind.
Heard a keynote speaker at the recent Assisted Living Federation of America 2010 National Conference note that when Otto von Bismarck was creating the 1st pension system in Europe back in the 1800s, he defined old age as 65. The average age at the time was 47.
Help decorate the front yard of a cousin who was celebrating his 65th Birthday and attended a birthday party of a family member who turned 95. A cake with 95 candles all burning at the same time is quite a sight.
Putting fingers to computer keyboard, I typed in “How Old is Old” into the search bar and hit Enter. In .2 seconds, more than 2 billion results popped up. Obviously, I am not the only one pondering this question. If I spent just 15 seconds on each one, I could get through them all in a mere 970 years.
The top spot belonged to a New York Times Blog on “How Old is Old Age.” The Blog cites findings from a national survey conducted by the Pew Research Center. The study found that most people think that old age begins at 68, but people of different ages have different views. People over 65 tend to say that old age begins at 75 while people under 30 say that it begins at 60. Paul McCartney’s “will you still love me when I’m 64” comes to mind. Click here to read the NYT Blog.
I discovered a “Walk in My Shoes” University of Illinois Extension 4-H Awareness Project that is filled with activities designed to learn the concepts of old, older and oldest. Click here to read more.
Also among the Top Five was “How Old Would You Be on Another Planet.” You type in the month, day and year you were born and click on the planet of your choice. I learned that I am 31 years old on Mars but 95 on Venus. Click here to learn how old you would be on all nine planets.
Respondents to a Yahoo Answers poll from April 21, 2010 selected “depends on the state of your mind” as the Best Answer to the question about what is old. One respondent noted that “my friend is 65 and she still feels young and vigorous. She dances and enjoys life.”
All affordable assisted living communities managed by BMA Management, Ltd. are certified and surveyed by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. All assisted living communities are licensed and surveyed by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
“BMA Management, Ltd. is the leading provider of assisted living in Illinois
and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
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