difference between old people and now people
Answers
Society and culture, environment, you name it. When the Baby Boom began after World War II, the planet was trying to return to normalcy after the devastation of the global conflict. The nations felt as if they had stepped away from the brink of annihilation. They raced to restore their economies and their communities. Everyone was expected to play their roles which were clearly defined.
People were expected to settle down and raise families in their early twenties. They would be in a career-oriented position which would help them pay for a home and a vehicle by the age of thirty. At forty, their kids would be preparing for college. That meant that they would be grandparents in their fifties. They retired at sixty-five and became senior citizens who would live out their remaining years in peace.
The rebellious Sixties changed the mindset of those in the Western Hemisphere. People began rejecting traditional lifestyles and began pursuing their dreams. Many felt that families were as hostage to fortune, and continued their vision quests into their thirties and forties. Those who succeeded became role models for others in their age group. Those who failed went back to school or the workplace, bringing their life experience with them. They had to stay in mental and physical shape in order to compete with their younger colleagues.
Scientific advancements made a tremendous impact. People learned that lifting weights and developing their cardiovascular system was as a fountain of youth. New medical discoveries helped avert or eliminate many physical problems that had set limits for mature adults of past generations. Republican governments also saw the advantage of providing business loans to older entrepreneurs, seeing the probability that they would stay the course and successfully repay the debt.
At the turn of the century, we have seen two seventy-year-old Presidents, numerous sixty-year-olds winning Nobel Prizes and pro athletes still competing in their fifties. Seventy years ago they would have been in Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. In the Y2K Twenties, we praise the Lord and say YOU GOTTA BELIEVE!
Here is your answer,
I read one perspective which narrowed the conversation to only women. I will add that both genders ( including supplemental genders) get older in a different way than previous generations. The definition of “old” is changed dramatically as older people shun the notion of the word and even choose not to retire at all. Age is more subjective today than it has ever been. I know many individuals still working beyond 90 including an MD with a busy general practice in Massachusetts. An increased standard of health and more health awareness has added to the average life span for most of us and this means the paradigm for retirement and proverbial feebleness is changed. Retirement to an increasing number of people is an arcane notion, brought on more by external socialization than by intimate desire. More and more people are beginning to realize that continued goals in life are synergistic with prolonged vibrance. There is a saying now, 60 is the new 40. Now imagine tackling a new career or challenge with all the wisdom gathered over fifty, sixty or seventy years. What you wish you knew then you know now, so you can apply it. Computers? A learning curve like anything else. I just changed my career from a horse trainer of forty plus years to a histologist with board certification pending this Spring and another medical laboratory certification following in eight months. I have already been hired in a pathology lab in advance of certification. My new career is begun and I am loving every minute of it. Medical School is a strong possibility within the next two years. I am also finishing up my single engine pilots license. I am 65 and there are many out there like me or even more advanced and busy. DonaId Trump is in his seventies and has more energy running an entire country with complex international affairs and gets more done than any twenty year old. This is a different ball game now. Its not over until you cannot charge your lithium frontal lobe implant anymore.