Old age
Many people hope to experience what it feels to be old. Getting old means being at the last stage of the lifecycle where one can hardly do anything. In the United States, life expectancy is 66 years, but it is expected to rise to 67 gradually in the coming years. In this context, old is defined as ages that surpass or nearing the life expectancy of human beings living in that particular place. Although getting old is natural and beyond human control, old age experiences vary among various individuals. Old age brings with it multidimensional mental, social and physiological changes. Many aspects of the life of an individual begin to decline.
Through a thorough exploration of different academic materials regarding human beings’ development in the last stages of life, I have created a tentative picture of what it means to get old. To know someone is old, autonomous body functions decline significantly. The person starts to develop sleep and health complications, the ineffectiveness of sensory nerves that control sight, hearing, and taste. The immune system becomes weak, and a person becomes more susceptible to diseases. In as much many people have varied stereotypes about the old, I feel that they deserve to be understood, loved, and appreciated. It is because, at their last stages of life, they are vulnerable and have little control over what is happening to their life.
My parents were born around the ’50s, and 60’s so 50 years was their “old.” Their life expectancy was lower compared to today’s 70 years old. The cause for this difference in life expectancies is attributed to significant advancement in the field of medicine, thus providing solutions to different ailments, unlike today where the kids are exposed so much to nude and psychologically disturbing content because uncontrolled exposure to the internet, children were given a chance to experience their childhood fully.
I interviewed various people about their perception of old age and how they would know they are aging. Others defined old age as a period when a person has approached 90 years while others described old as nearing 50 years old. An individual gave a fascinating answer to his perception of old. To him, aging is a state of mind. He said you would know you are old when you can hardly provide for yourself. It implied that they viewed older people as a burden to the younger generation. Others said that you would know you are old when all you do is pay bills and work continuously, while another one said that you become only when you lose the desire to live.
We can help to rejuvenate self-esteem in aged individuals through empowering the efforts of a supportive family. This motivation is achieved by strengthening social connections and facilitating their independence through activities such as community programs. We all have heard many cases of the aged individual who are pronounced dead shortly after being admitted into a nursing home. It is morally unacceptable to have someone who has raised children, and possibly a good number of grandchildren share a room with a stranger in a “mysterious” place. They need to be with family and feel loved can cause depression, eventually leading one to withdraw from life.