by BJ Armstrong

About 25% of Americans today are 50+. Either we grow old or die young. We all know that ours is a youth oriented society. We like lean and trim bodies, bright eyes, and un-wrinkled skin. That's why we spend millions of dollars on aging products. Living better longer is the goal nowadays.

When he was 80, the poet Oliver Wendell Holmes made the following statement: "There are two kinds of people who live to be 70 years of age. The first kind expect to live until they're 90. The second kind expect to live to be 90 and who die before they reach it .... It makes no difference. For those who expect to die at 70 and live to be 90 ... it is hell."

Our society values youth and devalues the elderly. God is no respecter of persons of ages. Exodus 20:12 says .. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. KJV. Old age is a time for being blessed and for blessing others. Are you looking at your glass of age as if its half empty or half full?

Grow old along with me

The best it yet to be.
The last of life, for which the first was made:
Our times are in His hand.
Who saith, " A whole I planned,
Youth shows but half; trust God:
See all, nor be afraid!" ....       
              Robert Browning

Obviously, everyone grows older and it would be ridiculous to hope that advancing years would leave us completely untouched by time. Good health plus maintaining it are available through diets, exercise programs and recent developments in medicine for arthritis, cancer, diabetes and heart diseases. Most of these chronic illnesses are products of lifestyle and bad

health practices. When we consistently treat our bodies to working too hard, stressful living, drinking alcohol, using drugs, not getting enough rest and sleep; our bodies will retaliate by developing the above diseases.

Whatever our age, young or old, we must dedicate ourselves to preserving our health, stamina, and vitality if we want to stay healthy and live to be a ripe old age.

Deuteronomy 34:7 And Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died; his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. KJV.

Alphabet for Seniors

A is for Arthritis
B is for Bad back
C is for Chest pains, perhaps cardiac?
D is for Dental replacements and decline.
E is for eyesight - can't read the top line
F is for fissures and fluid retention
G is for gas, which I'd rather not mention.
H is for high blood pressure, I'd rather have low
I is for incisions with  scars you can show.
J is for joints, that now fail to flex,
L is for libido, what happened to sex?  Wait I forgot about K
K is for knees that crack when they're bent,
(please forgive me, my Memory ain't worth a cent)
N is for neurosis, pinched nerves and stiff neck
O is for osteo and all bones that crack
P is for prescriptions, I have quite a few,
(Give me another pill and I'll be as good as new)
Q is for queasiness. Wine or flu
R is for reflux, one meal turns into two
S is for sleepless nights, counting my fears
T is for tinnitus, I hear bells in my ears
U is for urinary, difficulties with flow.
V is for vertigo, that's dizzy you know.
W is for worry, now what's going round?
X is for x-ray and what might be found.
Y is for another year I've left behind
Z is for zest that I still have my mind!

If you have survived all these symptoms your body's deployed,  you will have kept many doctors gainfully employed. Ain't being a "senior citizen" great?