The "Old People" Concept
Our society has a mental concept into which all elderly — and many not so elderly — are automatically crammed. What is — or was — your mental concept of the elderly in general? The average person views an elderly person as one who has wrinkled skin, who may have lost most or all of his teeth. If he has any hair it is probably gray. This person supposedly has a poor memory for recent events. He is considered by many to be uneducated or dull — one whose health is gone and who has no vigor or energy.
The elderly supposedly cannot concentrate, ramble when they talk, and have lost all competence for any occupation — no matter how minor.
But how many of the elderly really fit this mental concept? Some official estimates say 10% at most! About 5% of the 65-plus generation are residing in nursing and rest homes. Another 5% are estimated to be bed-ridden shut-ins! But even these people do not necessarily fit the stock image of an "old person."
Nevertheless, the "older-person-is-useless" concept has taken root. This is one reason why older people are progressively shut off from the mainstream of society — why 65 is often chosen as the place to forcefully retire employees.
The other reason why older people become non-producers has to do with the mental attitude of the elderly themselves. They have accepted this concept of themselves — that old people degenerate physically and mentally. As a result, they often take themselves out of society — without even realizing it!
"I'm Too Old"
These three words create many needless problems for the elderly — and worry for those who are in middle age or beyond.
Dr. David Joseph Schwartz, Ph.D., author of The Magic of Thinking Big, wrote, "It's surprising how few people feel they are 'just right' age wise. And it's unfortunate. This excuse has closed the door of real opportunity to thousands of individuals. They think their age is wrong, so they don't even bother to try . . . HOW OLD WE ARE IS NOT IMPORTANT. It's one's attitude toward age that makes it a blessing or a barricade" (pp. 31-32).
How many times have you heard someone say, "I'm too old!" Or half jokingly say, "Well, you can't teach an old dog new tricks." This old age exquisite plagues many citizens. It need not — because it is based on a tragic fallacy.
It is a common belief, especially among the elderly, that as the body grows old, the mind ages right along with the worn-out body. According to this idea, first the memory starts to fade, and eventually senility will claim the entire mind. In reality, nothing could be farther from the truth!
Most people are led to believe that their productive years end around 65, at which time they should retire, making room for a new generation.
MOST PEOPLE ARE WRONG!
The Importance of the Mind
One reason why it appears that the mind deteriorates is that it has in many cases been allowed to deteriorate — as most people allow the body to deteriorate. Result? By age 65 many people are not as productive mentally as they could be.
But it should not be this way.
By far and away the two major contributors to senility are: 1) our industry-predicated society which restricts thinking and using the mind, except for the few, and 2) a lifetime of improper diet, lack of exercise and other health-wrecking habits. These cause a massive deterioration of the physical body, resulting in senile human beings.
Then, too often the "declining years" are spent in a rest home where boredom sometimes leads to further needless senility, as in the following example.
In the next column is part of a dialogue between a reporter and an elderly person in a rest home. The elderly person could be from anywhere.
This problem is not restricted to any region, or for that matter any nation. It affects a significant minority of the elderly. It is graphic evidence of what can happen to an elderly person who has not actively used his mind.
INTERVIEWER: How do you approach each day? Do you look forward to it and what do you look forward to the most?
ELDERLY WOMAN: I don't know. Nothing special.
INTERVIEWER: Do you have any contact with your family?
ELDERLY WOMAN: Nothing special.
INTERVIEWER: Does your family live near here?
ELDERLY WOMAN: Yes, they live near here but we don't visit together very often.
INTERVIEWER: How long have you been here?
ELDERLY WOMAN: How long have I been here? I don't know. I've been here several years. I can't remember when I came here now.
INTERVIEWER: What do you enjoy most every day?
ELDERLY WOMAN: Getting Out.
INTERVIEWER: Getting outside?
ELDERLY WOMAN: Yeah. Walking up and down.
INTERVIEWER: Do you get any exercise every day?
ELDERLY WOMAN: No, I don't.
INTERVIEWER: What is the most exciting thing you do every day?
ELDERLY WOMAN: Work.
INTERVIEWER: What do you work at?
ELDERLY WOMEN: Everything.
INTERVIEWER: You do various things?
ELDERLY WOMAN: Yes. I just keep the home in order and look forward for better times and so on, you know, just trying to fix everything better.
INTERVIEWER: Have you known Mrs. Woodly (another person in the home) long?
ELDERLY WOMAN: No, not very long. I just know her for a short time. I really don't know her very much.
INTERVIEWER: But you enjoy yourself here?
ELDERLY WOMAN: Yes, I enjoy it here. This woman could have had a more productive life with responsibilities that would have warded off senility.
Active Minds
Now contrast this, for example, with the life of Konrad Adenauer, who became West Germany's Chancellor at the age of 69 and died while still active at age 91. Adenauer was health conscious all of his life.
Or take the fabulous life of Sir Winston Churchill. Sir Winston was well over 65 before he reached his height of productive power.
When he was 65, the name of Winston Churchill was all but unknown to the populace of the United States. As Europe was facing her darkest hour, as the very existence of Britain was in doubt, Churchill came on the scene. What if he had said, "Sorry, I have retired — I am just too old"?
In a book by Clarence B. Randall titled Sixty-Five Plus, the author had this to say of Churchill: "His life reached its greatest usefulness at sixty-five plus, and then went on growing through seventy-five plus.
"At forty he was bold, but reckless, facile of speech, but unseasoned in judgment. Not until his very senior years did he reach the unshakeable peak of leadership" (page 11). Fortunate were Britain, Europe and America that Winston Churchill was old enough to have good judgment when this crisis came along!
Churchill was a renowned historian and an accomplished painter. He did not let his mind stagnate.
There are, of course, many such examples of over-65-year-old producers. Charles de Gaulle ruled France and Chiang-Kai-shek created a new nation on Taiwan in the time of life when most men are thinking of retiring.
But you say, "These were world renowned leaders. They were highly educated, what about common people like us?" Obviously, only a few have the magnitude of ability — and the chance — for world renown. But ALL CAN APPLY these same principles. Many are not nearly so limited as they think they are. Everyone can use his abilities — however limited they may appear — to his fullest capacity.
To do so is extremely important. The mind must continue to be used and developed — or it deteriorates.
Dr. Irving Lorge, a psychologist at Columbia University ran a series of tests conclusively proving that older people for years lose nothing in mental power if they keep up their active interests. "Your body gets old," Dr. Lorge says, "but not your mind IF YOU CARE TO USE IT. The mind never retires!"
All too many of our elderly have been sidetracked by society and have not made adequate use of their minds. They do not keep up any active interests. The mind is allowed to grow old with the body, when it doesn't have to. And this actually increases the aging process of the body.