So when you find it in your mailbox for the first time my friend
You can tell that you getting older, you’re turning grey
It’s a first sign of decline, it’s a start of the end
When your wrinkles out number your hairs then it’s headed your way
Chorus
Modern Maturity, means you’re getting old
When you get the magazine that you hide from your friends
Once it was Rolling Stone, it was thrill after thrill
Now Modern Maturity means over the hill
Sometimes, these articles just come to me.
There was an article this morning in the Los Angeles Times about how the Leisure World community down in Laguna Woods (yes, note the letters) wants to change their name. Why, you ask? Doesn’t Leisure World convey that image of a nice, youthful, vibrant community, into Pilates and workouts, a strong vibrant community full of healthy people?
Perhaps not.
At least that’s what the directors of the community claim. After being hit with a request for $18K/year from the owner of the Leisure World trademark (because they used it in a profit-making venue), they have begun to look at a name change. They could afford to go either way (ugh, seniors going either way, umm, never mind): it’s $50K to change it, $18K/year to keep it. Mind you, these are seniors that decided to incorporate Leisure World into its own city in 1999… with an average age of 78. Why they don’t just call it Laguna Woods (the city name) is beyond me, or perhaps Laguna Woods Village?
Anyway, that’s not why I’m writing this. The article goes on to note:
The issue is largely about perception. For residents, Leisure World provides the trappings of an active lifestyle. If only the name sounded more active. “Leisure,” along with “retired,” are no longer in vogue. Feeling old is out.
AARP — which tellingly dropped the word “retired” from its name and is now known only by what had been its acronym — has redesigned its magazine, once the place of Metamucil ads, to include stories announcing that 60 is the new 30. Its website offers advice for creating spicy personal ads, and a message board is devoted to “dating horror stories.”
In a national survey, the Boomer Project, a market research company found that only 2% of older adults think “senior citizen” is an appropriate term to describe them, said Matt Thornhill, the project’s president. Even more noteworthy, Thornhill said, is that the way older people expect to live out their lives is also changing. The traditional view held that as people aged, their quality of life diminished. But aging boomers are no longer satisfied with the occasional round of golf and one last Alaskan cruise.
Just think about this for a minute. I’m at the tail end of the “boomer” generation. Those folks you saw on Happy Days… those “Classic” Rock stars from the 1960s… they are looking for “Retirement Homes” (if that’s the right term). Will there be such a thing as old age when I reach there in (mumble) years? Are these “active Seniors” stealing my right to retire and annoy my wife (did I say that) (uh) work on my hobbies? And more importantly for the country (and us), think of the impact of this on the economy (for example, people continuing to work later in lafe, moving back the retirement age; construction of more facilities and programs for the new teenagers). What happens when this all comes crashing down, after the boom generation passes.
We’re deluding ourselves. We need to do what many other cultures have done. As you grow old, stop trying to be a youngster. Be proud of your years and your experience, and use it to help those going through it. As a recent Torah study taught me: honoring your parents means giving them the right to live their lives. Does it respect our parents to try and make them into teens again. I remember my teen years—even though I’m older, I think I like my life now.
When Mick Jagger has his breakfast of yogurt and bran
Does he read of prescriptions by mail or of self-rising chairs
You can keep on rockin’ and rollin’ as long as you can
But then you sit in your little seat and you ride up the stairs
(chorus: Modern Maturity…)
I’ve looked through its pages and what I see there
Is that everyone looks about twenty-five with white hair
You can buy polyester pants for nineteen ninety-five
You can get your grandchildren’s picture on your coffee cup
And if you’re tired of walking there’s a scooter that you can drive
Or a button to push if you’ve fallen and you can’t get up
Modern Maturity, means you’re getting old
When you get the magazine that you hide from your friends
Once it was Rolling Stone, it was thrill after thrill
Now Modern Maturity means over the hill
[Lyrics from the song Modern Maturity, by Tom Paxton]
