What is a pensioner?

[pastafreak]

Following on from cazz's question on pensioners....how do you define a pensioner? is it just age.....or the fact that a person can or does collect a pension. is it attitude?...ie:time to drop out of life and slow down? I have just turned-dare I admit it?(shudder).....60.....yet i do not feel it and many people i know thought I was considerably younger. And if I was referred to as a pensioner I would be insulted....in my mind a pensioner is someone MUCH older than me!! lol! opinions please

[cazzz1975]

I always go by the government definition, the age that the government defines a person as a pensioner.

most pensioners look much younger these days

[Ethel]

It is very true that 'old' gets much older as we age.

When I was a child, 30 was positively ancient. In my 20s and 40 was past it.

When I was 40 I dreaded 60 - so old and feeble.

Now I am long passed that, and old definitely starts at 95.

[wendilla]

FIRST HALFOld Age, I decided, is a gift.

I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have always wanted to be. Oh, not my body! I sometime despair over my body, the wrinkles, the baggy eyes, and the sagging butt. And often I am taken aback by that old person that lives in my mirror (who looks like my mother!), but I don't agonize over those things for long.

I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've become more kind to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend. I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant. I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging. Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon?

I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60&70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love .. I will. I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set. They, too, will get old.
I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things.

[wendilla]

2ND HALFSure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face. So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver. As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned the right to be wrong.

So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day. (If I feel like it)

[saxy_jag]

To me it merely denotes that a person lives entirely, or almost entirely on a retirement pension or pensions. Age doesn't come into it.

I know some people who are still living life to the full at ninety, and there again there are those who become 'old' the moment they hit sixty and spend the rest of their lives moaning about it.

[dot.hawkes]

zigzag on here is the answerbank pensioner, reminds me of Hilda Ogden in a way but less intelligent lol

[zig_zag]

tut tut dorothy
just except youe age
we all get older lol

[dot.hawkes]

at least i am alot further away from being a pensioner than you are, you are getting very repeptitive in your dotage, and you are losing your grip on reality, must be all that horlicks you drink

[Kleiber]

wendilla, how I agree with you! I'm not a "government pensioner" yet, but in my mind, I'm still 20! Pastafreak - you're only as old as you feel - may you forever feel young!! :0) K xx

[Lindsey81]

I dont think it is possible to tell anymore I think it is just like the recent debate how can you tell if some one is poor. Todays world it hard of course instead of the obviouse ones of living on the streets with nothing. But classing some older a pensioner I always look at the clothes and of course maybe if they smell. then again so do babies so I am not sure any way hope you enjoy a long healthy life....

[pastafreak]

Oh I agree whoeheartedly with you ethel.....old age most definately starts at 95! And wendilla-you write so beautifully of embracing lifes changes-if only we could all face our later years with such a positive "damn the consequences" attitude. i know that that has become my philosophy-we have only one chance...I don't want to go with a whimper!

[cazzz1975]

you look at all the celebs that are officially "pensioner" I think its all about how you feel inside, I dont regard my parents as pensioners yet they are, the label doesnt fit anymore

[pastafreak]

So legend-do YOU expect to smell of lavender water and wee when you are 60?...or is it stale fart and wee for men ??? oh dear -stereotyping here!....hehe

[zig_zag]

puff lmao

[zig_zag]

you let the cat out the bag ya barras boy ?
really can't believe a fable like that lol

[zig_zag]

you and who legend ? lol