Active Seniors
By Mary Smith
The Baby Boom generation has always been a generation that has challenged the way society views life. From the free love of the 60’s, to the women’s movement of the 70’s, we have set the standard for change. Now that many of us are in our 50’s and 60’s we, are challenging the concept of what it means to grow older in society.
As our generation continues to grow older, we are finding that society has a set idea of what a 50 or 60 year old should look like. For example, it seems that at age 55, I’m should be overweight on medication and or walking with a cane. That image of what is defined as a Senior has not changed in the last 50 years. While that may be the reality for some, for many baby boomers like myself, that image does not fit.
Still, society expects those individuals born between 1946 and 1964 to not distort the image that they have held for years, but go quietly into the golden years like they are suppose to do. That is where they are wrong. As I have stated at the beginning of this piece, our generation is a generation of change. Today we are reinventing what it means to grow old in society.
Take a closer look at the baby boomers of which I am a member, and you will see that we don’t intend to be defined by past restrictions or stigmas. We are more active and healthier than past generations. Some of us even look better than we did when we were in our teens and twenties. Yes even as we age, our generation continues to make an imprint on society.
Baby boomers continue to challenge the way society does many things. As we continue to reinvent the idea of settling for anything, we will continue to embrace life and welcome the challenges that it presents.
