Achieve 80 years and the ‘old machine’ will adapt SOME YEARS ago there was quiet excitement about the astonishing longevity of the inhabitants of Azerbaijan, a Middle Eastern territory with a chequered past. The people there were claimed as regularly achieving 100-odd years, based on a steady diet of apricots and yogurt. They had the documents to prove it. What simplicity, what an easily acquired healthy old age. Back to the basics of fruit and milk, the Garden of Eden. Alas, it turns out that several young Azerbaijanis who didn't fancy war destroyed their own cit- izenship papers and assumed their fallen fathers’ identities. We who had eagerly swallowed all that yogurt and eaten all those apricots had been properly duped, though no doubt the dietary interlude did us good. It was Jan Drabek, author of The Golden Revolution, who struck the scales from my eyes about these reluctant draftees. He reveals the secret in the book he published last year as a guide for Canadian Retirement Styles for the 1990s. It overflows with in- formation, both on old people of the past, in song and story as well as history, and exhaustively outlines our options for these days and the future. He’s pretty straightforward, and_ therefore credible; he'll tell you in one line that by the time you’re 60 your brain cells are dying by the mil- lions, and your memory is forget it. Then he'll say that achieving 80 seems to be a sort of watershed that often allows many further years, the old machine having ap- parently adapted and adjusted and taken the bit back in its teeth. Problems have been settled or plain outlived. His scholarship is impressive but not daunting to the reader. It’s interesting to see described the progress of the perception of seniors, from veneration in the time of the ancient Greeks through indifference and abuse to Victoria’s robust and victorious image. We've come to expect productivity from our older citi- zens, and that’s partly due to our being healthier, better educated and more politically astute than our previous counterparts. We’re also more adaptable, he says, a trait that hasn’t often been ascribed to those who are long in the tooth. Some of us greybeards still do downhill skiing; some of us take regular shifts ai McDonald’s; some of us sell real estate. No big shucks, maybe, Eleanor Godley THE VINTAGE YEARS when you consider that Artur Rubinstein gave his last Carnegie Hall concert at 95, or that Mary Baker Eddy was still running the Christian Science movement at 89. The point is, there’s no limit, save social mores. The closest thing to an anti- aging pill, says Drabek, is exer- cise. Walk whenever it’s feasible. Run if there’s a fire, but walking is more beneficial in the long haul. There are a great many obser- vations in this book that are worth your attention. About how to get cash equity out of your house while you live in it. About club living as opposed to the loneliness inherent in apartment living. About aids to elderly trav- ellers, like an electronic address book, and off season bookings when crowds are gone. About leaving your money to your children. Hell with it, says Drabek — spend it. The final sections of the book are, as seems logical, about illness and death. Again, Jan Drabek has marshalled all sorts of informa- tion, this time about the practical aspects of being terminally ill and of dying. He underlines that the fact that technology exists to pro- long life for some does not mean that it has to be employed. He cites the more frequent suicides of elderly men as opposed to female [HELP WHEN YOU NEED IT!| Medic Aid Response Systems will take over the moment an emergency occurs. At the push of a button, Medic Aid Response Systems will do all the talking for you. 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He wants, as we all do, that we should grow old with good sense and clear un- derstanding and continue to con- tribute as our resources dictate. We have no reason to think we are a burden as long as we are in- dependent. We pay our way. He, as well as a lot of the rest of us, would like to see a more coherent bureaucracy of social program- ming, and more inclination to home care. The Golden Revolution, by Jan Drabek, published by Macrnillan of Canada, 1989. Sunday, September 9, 1990 - Norti: Shore News - 25 NORTH SHORE MUSIC ACADEMY Develop musical skill and appreciation in: FLUTE = VIOLIN @ PIANO @ ORFF » THEORY TRUMPET DOUBLE BASS # ORGAN «@ GUITAR... The academy faculty has been carefully chosen on the basis of their professional music experience, teaching skill and leadership ability. OUR FALL SEMESTER STARTS SEPTEMBER 10, 1990! To receive a free brochure, or for more information, write: West Vancouver Baptist Church 450 Mathers Avenue, West Vancouver, B.C. 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