What kind of old?

So much for the publicity given to 'Say No to Ageism' week,which has apparently been running for the last nine years.This is the first time, thanks to Facebook, that I have ever come across this event . If it is really the case that the age of the population is increasing then the political clout of this demographic group will also increase and perhaps life choices and the resources to make them will become more available to older people who for the most part become and remain invisible, it seems. The Bealtaine festival is a case in point - the images of older people swinging axes to wreck images of words like 'inequality' on the Bealtaine web site seemed pointless to me. 'What kind of old do you want to be?' was the question as title of a recent conference in Dublin. Resourced, respected, liked , appreciated, active in public life and in my own community, independent, whole in mind and body- wearing purple or anything else I want to - as little different from my current life as possible,thanks!