Older people - How do you define 'young'

[JarodRussell]

You might be surprised, J.

If my past fortunes are any indication, I doubt it. I used to see life as a mystery, an opportunity to explore what it means to be alive. I wanted to go places I had never been before, and learn great things, to be a part of something wonderful. Now I see it as a dread progression of days in which tedium has claimed any joy I once had. It's all uphill, every moment is a struggle for relevance, and that when I die, I will be alone and forgotten. That last one only bothers me for a moment, as once I'm dead, it won't matter anymore. This is how I see "old" and "young." I will be forever old, until I am dead. Then it won't matter anymore. I'm pretty sure I'll be dead before I ever get the chance to actually live.

Seriously... it's all ahead of you. I'm 55 (damn that sounds old!), but I don't feel anything like that, I'm losing weight and I just bought an electric guitar. I might only have 10-15 good years, and maybe another 10 not so good ones, but I'm going out on a high and a rush! So much to do!

Read the poem 'Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night', and some of the analysis and history of it. It's not perfect, but it has acertain strength we could all use. You won't regret it.

Push harder. It will be wonderful.

As to young and old, if they're scampering on my lawn, they're damn kids. If they're doddering along with a walker that wasn't acquired through injury, just years, they're old.

But, as the joke says, when you drive past a high school and find your checking out the moms instead of the students, you're old.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTv1Dmu5CYc[/yt]

 

[RoJoHen]

I am 28, and for the most part I consider anyone 21 and below to be "young," but that might just be because I work in a bar and 21-year olds are incredibly immature drinkers.

Most 21-year-olds are incredibly immature everything. Well, the male of the species, at any rate.

The guys are immature. The girls are just dumb.

 

[JarodRussell]

I am 28, and for the most part I consider anyone 21 and below to be "young," but that might just be because I work in a bar and 21-year olds are incredibly immature drinkers.

Most 21-year-olds are incredibly immature everything. Well, the male of the species, at any rate.

The guys are immature. The girls are just dumb.

Mhmm, I love the smell of sexism in the morning.

 

[RoJoHen]

Most 21-year-olds are incredibly immature everything. Well, the male of the species, at any rate.

The guys are immature. The girls are just dumb.

Mhmm, I love the smell of sexism in the morning.

Hardly.

Again, this is my perspective as a bartender. 21-year old boys want to get shitfaced as fast and cheaply as possible and vomit everywhere. 21-year old girls act like speaking to strangers in public is some form of rocket science.

Young people just generally suck.

 

[propita]

I stopped buying Playboy every month when I realized the girls in the centerfold were born the year I graduated high school.

My husband still gets playboy, but actually doesn’t like looking at the pictures too much. He said that when he’s older than the Playmates’ mothers, he’s too old to be looking at the girls in a sexual way.

It didn’t help that we met a couple, years ago at an artist’s signing, and they did not match their pics. So much makeup! He got really turned off by that.

Now he’s more into Men’s Journal/Health for their articles than Playboy.

We is getting old!

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

When you are looking at your prostate over naked women yes, you are getting old

 

[DimesDan]

The guys are immature. The girls are just dumb.

Mhmm, I love the smell of sexism in the morning.

Hardly.

Again, this is my perspective as a bartender. 21-year old boys want to get shitfaced as fast and cheaply as possible and vomit everywhere. 21-year old girls act like speaking to strangers in public is some form of rocket science.

Young people just generally suck.

 

[RoJoHen]

I love how you're all defending the drunk children.

 

[JarodRussell]

I love how you're all defending the drunk children.

The point was that drunk guys are just immature, but drunk girls are just dumb. That they are drunk had absolutely nothing to do with your generalization.

 

[RoJoHen]

I love how you're all defending the drunk children.

The point was that drunk guys are just immature, but drunk girls are just dumb.

Fine. Both drunk guys and girls are immature and dumb.

Better?

 

[TedShatner10]

I'm already 28 years old and back when I was 10 to 14 years old, an early middle-aged adult (from 35-ish to 50s-ish) of course seemed ancient to me, but nowadays seems comparatively youthful (with genuine aging happening at around 60+, and even then elderly people can sometimes be surprisingly spritely and fresh faced).

 

[Melakon]

Young is how I feel in my head. Old is how I feel when my body reminds me otherwise.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

Young is how I feel in my head. Old is how I feel when my body reminds me otherwise.

Ditto, that's me this morning.

 

[Kelthaz]

I'm already 28 years old and back when I was 10 to 14 years old, an early middle-aged adult (from 35-ish to 50s-ish) of course seemed ancient to me, but nowadays seems comparatively youthful (with genuine aging happening at around 60+, and even then elderly people can sometimes be surprisingly spritely and fresh faced).

We share the same age and thoughts on the matter.

To me, a person is old when their body has reached the point where they can no longer do all the things that a younger person can do either mentally or physically. Assuming that a person is in decent shape and is in good health, then that's late 60's or early 70's for most people.

 

[stj]

When the wear and tear on the body really convinces you that you, personally, not only are going to die, but the process is well under way.

 

[JarodRussell]

I'm already 28 years old and back when I was 10 to 14 years old, an early middle-aged adult (from 35-ish to 50s-ish) of course seemed ancient to me, but nowadays seems comparatively youthful (with genuine aging happening at around 60+, and even then elderly people can sometimes be surprisingly spritely and fresh faced).

We share the same age and thoughts on the matter.

To me, a person is old when their body has reached the point where they can no longer do all the things that a younger person can do either mentally or physically. Assuming that a person is in decent shape and is in good health, then that's late 60's or early 70's for most people.

But what means "all the things"?

 

[Kelthaz]

I'm already 28 years old and back when I was 10 to 14 years old, an early middle-aged adult (from 35-ish to 50s-ish) of course seemed ancient to me, but nowadays seems comparatively youthful (with genuine aging happening at around 60+, and even then elderly people can sometimes be surprisingly spritely and fresh faced).

We share the same age and thoughts on the matter.

To me, a person is old when their body has reached the point where they can no longer do all the things that a younger person can do either mentally or physically. Assuming that a person is in decent shape and is in good health, then that's late 60's or early 70's for most people.

But what means "all the things"?

Tennis, bike rides, video games, concerts, jogging, employment, chess, etc.

With the exception of professional sports or extreme activities (mountain climbing, etc.) there's very little that you can do in your 20's that you can't continue doing well in your 60's.

 

[Australis]

Remember these:

Keith Richard has outlived Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and Kurt Cobain. Who saw that coming?

Next year, Mick Jagger will be a great-grandfather.

 

[Melakon]

The great thing about being old is watching the younger people go through the same shit you went through at that age.

 

[auntiehill]

True, but you also can't stop them from making the same dumb mistakes that you and/or your friends & relatives made, and that's sometimes difficult to watch or go through a second time. It's like watching a train wreck. You know exactly what's going to happen, see it coming from a long ways off, but you're powerless to stop it from happening.