Column Chronicles: Ageless youth in the new millennium

Ageless youth in the new millennium

Frank Cotolo
June 30, 2016

The lifespan of humans has expanded and a global culture has changed so much that people no longer feel being over 50 years old means their lives have been defined, except for those dead before reaching 50.

The new millennium has created an atmosphere that defies what was commonly thought as "old age" making people look to the future at ages where most people looked for a cemetery plot.

"Seventy is the new thirty," said a 75-year-old NASCAR pit mechanic.

"Sixty is the new twenty," said a veteran heart surgeon during a complex artery-clearing operation.

"Fifty these days is like being a teenager," said a skydiving instructor that has survived two failed parachute jumps.

Developments in medicine have made people feel better, sure, but so-called seniors these days have an attitude that transcends health. Morris Pittenworth, who just turned 79, for instance, has been an animal trainer most of his life and continues to train dangerous beasts despite having high blood pressure and coordination and balance disorders that are treated with medication.

"Once you get the common aches and pains and diseases that older folks get," said Morris, "you feel like a million bucks and find that you can tolerate performing like a younger, more virile person."

Morris said he feels the animals he trains respect his ability to continue. "I think they know I am very old," he said, "and they admire, in the way animals feel such emotions, that I am working with more experience and knowledge on my side than I did when I was half my age. That is a form of respect you cannot buy. You earn it with time."

How far back, though, does the new age scale measure? We asked psychologist P.T. Ordinance, author of the book "Measuring Age Without Numbers: Youth No Longer Wasted On The Young" (Colbart & Sistremoval, N.Y.).

"It has become amazing," Ordinance said. "Being thirty doesn't mean thirty any longer; it's more like being fifteen. As well, being a teenager is now like being an infant. Some teenagers are still sleeping in cribs and living at their parents' homes while their parents - who are in their thirties - spend a lot of time skateboarding."

Ordinance said that the new scale slides to the extent that being 10 "is the new embryo".

So, as you become older, remember that you are not becoming as old as the age formerly represented and that you will have to stay active after turning 65 because if this new measuring of age becomes popular, you won't be able to collect Social Security until you are 85.

Frank Cotolo can be found hosting the talk and interview programme Cotolo Chronicles. You can send him an e-mail at this address: frank@148.ca.