Article December 28, 1998 Issue

Caring for the elderly

"The sandwich generation need not feel sandwiched when it remembers to love in the way this family learned to love."

By Robert A. Johnson

Do you think you know what elderly is? A research librarian at our local library—with a touch of humor in her voice—said that one definition of elderly is anyone who is fifteen years older than you. A reference work, Growing Old in America, notes, "Aside from the obvious measure of number of birthdays, people may be labeled old because of their appearance, their physical functioning, their mental capacity, or their lifestyle."^{Growing Old in America, Cornelia Blair, Nancy R. Jacobs, Jacquelyn F. Quiram, eds. (Wylie, Texas: Information Plus, 1996), P. 2 .}

Commenting on the custom of paying old age benefits starting at age sixty-five, the book continues, "The number 65 was not selected by any scientific process. ... In [1899], Germany became the first Western government to assume financial support of its older citizens by passing the Old Age and Survivors Pension Act. Chancellor von Bismark arbitrarily decided that eligibility for benefits would begin at age 65 (although he himself was an active and vigorous 74 years old at the time)."^Ibid.

An arbitrary decision. How's that for scientific. Well, regardless of how old age is defined or described, the fact is more and more people are living longer than ever before.