Americans find it difficult to think about old age until they are propelled into the midst of it by their own aging and that of relatives and friends. Aging is the neglected stepchild of the human life cycle. Though we have begun to examine the socially taboo subjects of dying and death, we have leaped over that long period of time preceding death known as old age. In truth, it is easier to manage the problem of death than the problem of living as an old person. {{U}}Death is a dramatic, one-time crisis while old age is a day-by-day and year-by-year confrontation with powerful external and internal forces, a bittersweet coming to terms with one's own personality and one's life.{{/U}} (1)
We base our feelings on primitive fears, prejudice and stereotypes rather than on knowledge and insight. {{U}}In reality, the way one experiences old age is contingent upon circumstances of late-life events (in what order they occur, how they occur, when they occur) and the social supports one receives: adequate finances, shelter, medical care, social roles, religious support, recreation.{{/U}} (2) All of these are crucial and interconnected elements which together determine the quality of late life.
Old age is neither inherently miserable nor inherently sublime, like every stage of life it has problems, joys, fears and potentials. {{U}}The process of aging and eventual death must ultimately be accepted as the natural progression of the life cycle, the old completing their prescribed life span, and making way for the young.{{/U}} (3) Much that is unique in old age in fact derives from the reality of aging and the imminence of death. {{U}}The old must clarify and find use for what they have attained in a lifetime of learning and adapting; they must conserve strength and resources where necessary and adjust creatively to those changes and losses that occur as part of the aging experience.{{/U}} (4) The elderly have the potential for qualities of human reflection and observation which can only come from having lived an entire life span. {{U}}There is a lifetime accumulation of personality and experience which is available to be used and enjoyed.{{/U}} (5)