Introduction

Why should we care about old age? When policy makers worldwide talk about global aging they address issues such as the future of "systems"— economic systems, health systems, and social welfare systems. When healthcare and medical researchers talk about aging they generally talk about issues relating to disease, disability and longevity. When we see older adults on television, in the movies or in other media we tend to see the stereotypes of the "old geezer," the "wise understanding perfect grandparent," the "frail sick old person," or the "breaking the rules old person." So why should we care?

One important reason is that old age is personal. We all hope that we will live to be old. We also hope that our parents, our family, our friends, and someday, our children will live a long life. Aging and growing old is something that is wished for and valued. There are many things that happen to us throughout life that are positive and negative— the same is true of being old. There are some things that we can do that may improve our chances of having more positive experiences late in life. Some things that we do affect us individually, such as eating carefully, exercising, not smoking, etc. Other things we do affect the society and the world we live in. For example, influencing policy decisions about health care (provide coverage when we are old) and clean air (reduce chance of developing cancer or respiratory diseases late in life).

The way we view old age today and the things that we do today will affect the elderly of today and tomorrow— our parents and ourselves! We need to learn about aging so that we can age with health and happiness. We need to understand the big issues related to "systems" and the issues related to our own lives. We need to understand the science of aging, but just as important, we need to understand what today’s older people can tell us about life and growing old.

Throughout this web site we have tried to emphasize that learning about aging and the elderly involves doing many things: learning about facts and issues (using this web page and other resources), personally getting to know individual older adults (through the web and face-to-face), and experiencing the wisdom and history of our elders (through reading and conducting interviews). This section of LinkAge 2000 covers basic information that is necessary to understand some of the issues in aging.