old people )was Miranda

[Tonks]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "storm" <miss_megan at b...> 
wrote:
>  I don't think people are old (as a rule) until they are in their 
80s. Of course it depends on what kind of life you are leading: I 
guess you could be old a lot earlier than that if you were so 
inclined.
> 
> As for 'elderly', well that's for people who are frail, heading 
into a nursing home and dead within three months.
> 

Tonks:
Well I really didn't expect all of this from my off-handed question 
of "who is the old woman?" She was standing with the kids, and she 
looks a lot older than they do, you can see it in her face, hence 
*old* as opposed to *young* 20-30). So it was just a question, that 
is all.

But now that this has gone on to be a discussion of age. If you are 
not *old* till you are 80, if you die at 78  does that mean that you 
were never *old*??

I am 58 and while I may not think of myself as really ancient, I do 
not delude myself; I know that people under 40 would think of me as 
old. That is not a bad thing. It appears that others here seem to 
think that it is, and I suspect look upon it with contempt. Why else 
would so many people push the definition back to the age of someone 
who is probably dead?  If you are 10 a person of 30 is old. Being 
old is not bad. Being old for most of us is the beginning of wisdom. 
We look at the young... as... well... *young*. As in when someone 
under 50 does something stupid you say "well he's young!" ;-) 

There are many good things about being old. You get senior citizen 
discounts before you are officially a senior citizen (which I think 
is 65 and up) but the discounts start at 55. You don't have to care 
what other people think. You can wear whatever you want and no one 
says "or look what a bad outfit", for the most part younger people 
don't really see you at all, or if they do they don't care what you 
are wearing either, because you are just that old woman. It is not a 
threat to them and their sense of style because you are not in the 
same group, so they don't care. You don't have to take care of kids. 
You usually have more time to do what really matters in life instead 
of keeping up with the Jones and killing yourself climbing the 
corporate ladder. Often because you have already *been there, done 
that*. Etc. Etc. The down side is that young people don't show the 
respect that they do in other cultures where the *old* are revered 
for their great wisdom. We who are over 50, over weight, with things 
sagging, and wearing purple with a red hat, may not look like much 
but we do have a great deal of wisdom.  We are the real wizards. Now 
if the youngin's would just see that!!

Tonks_op
who fears that I may have started it now... and going to hide out 
for a bit.