Age should be irrelevant

When I was in my teens, ‘old’ people were those hitting the 40, 50 and 60 age mark.

If they said they were close to retirement, I believed them to be knocking on heaven’s door because, typically of the Afrikaans culture, apart from calling anybody 10 years plus your senior oom or tannie (uncle and aunt), they were ‘old’.

Now that yours truly is getting closer to the ‘at-death’s-door’ age, I perceive being ‘old’ is closer to 80 and 90.

For the better half of this year, we had numerous letters from residents reiterating that when you are in your 50s, you are still young enough to work to carve out a living.

Journalist Adéle Bloem wrote an article for the front page about a 60-odd-year-old resident who is selling crosses at a traffic light to make a living. All he wants is a stable job – not too much to ask, is it?

But it seems the closer you get to your 60s, the more difficult it is to find employment. The dynamics of age have changed. Being 60 years plus is not old, at least in many cases not old enough to retire because some people really still have a lot of spunk. Life has certainly changed a lot over the years.

The saying, ‘You are as old as you feel’, rings true to me. I find it heartbreaking that you are forced to say goodbye to employment, and take all the hard-earned knowledge and skills with you when you retire. So many youngsters can learn valuable lessons from the older generation, such as how to cope in a work environment.

My thoughts are that men should be given the option to retire at 65 and women at 60, and should you wish not to retire because you are in good health and have a lot more to give, to retire at 70.

To me, age is irrelevant; it shouldn’t matter how old you are, what matters is your integrity, experience and knowledge.

But, maybe I am wrong. What do you think?

Until next week, take care of one another.