(this is a reprint of an article from newsdurhamregion.com – bears spreading!)

Newfound attitude could have positive side-effects for those of a more mature age

Sep 25, 2008

By Grace Stevenson

I suspected it would happen and it has. The baby boomers have reached the age known as “senior” and are about to “reinvent the notion of old.”

My first indication of this came when the Oshawa Senior Citizens Centres lowered the age of admission to 55, putting to shame the many over 65 who, through the years, have refused to join this organization because of the word “senior” in its name.

Immediately programs were added to allow these new members to do what they wanted to do — exercise more strenuously, enhance their computer skills and enjoy evening and Saturday activities.

A more telling indication has been the decision by CARP (Canadian Association of Retired Persons) to let Moses Znaimer take over their magazine. Deciding he hated all the usual words for those reaching a mature age, he christened us all Zoomers, an obvious evolution from the word Boomers.

But where does that leave us, we who gave birth to this boomer generation and still consider ourselves active members of society? We aren’t averse to the words senior and elder, considering them synonyms for wiser and more experienced. I was never a boomer and I refuse to be called a zoomer.

In his introductory letter in CARP magazine, now renamed Zoomer, Mr. Znaimer implies that seniors prior to his arrival on their scene, have “given up,” the man “stuffing himself into the same tux he bought years ago, the woman careless about her appearance because she no longer believes she’s attractive.”

Those are fighting words, Mr. Znaimer!

Just as the boomers took over every facet of life during my last 40 years — filled stores with clothes I couldn’t wear; assaulted my ears with raucous sounds that bore no resemblance to what I call music; and served food I’d never heard of in my youth; now they’ve filled my magazine with pictures of curvy young women and Adonis-like men and articles of no interest to my mature mind.

I did approve of one though. In it the author opined there’ll be no stigma about memory loss from now on, forgetting things will just be referred to as “data dumping.”

My first feeling when this magazine arrived was anger, fury in fact. But I now realize that, just as these boomers shaped the world their way through their growing up years, they’ll now change everything in their new world.

Mr. Znaimer is aiming for a membership of a million for CARP. I’m sure this dynamic man will obtain it. And when he does, the strength he’ll wield in advocating change will be awesome.

We’ll have more and better senior residences and nursing homes; numerous gerontology doctors and nurses; a never ending supply of subsidized caregivers for those who want to live on their own; and more handicapped spaces wherever we want to park.

Yes, life will be rosy for the Zoomers. I just have to stick around long enough to enjoy some of their spoils.