> A. Older Americans are an increasing economic resource which is often overlooked.
B. There is a busy ethic which demands that people keep busy in their old age because it makes them appear to be more useful members of society.
1. The busy ethic legitimizes leisure, wards off disturbing thoughts about aging, permits rest and relaxation, and adapts retirement to prevailing social norms.
C. Creative retirement is a way of finding new uses for past experiences.
1. Creative retirement reminds people that their useful place in life is not over.
The idea that creativity declines with aging is not backed up by research. In fact, all research suggests just the opposite and suggests that older people are a neglected resource because of their knowledge and life experience. There is no evidence that they cannot learn new things and techniques at an advanced age at any slower rate than young people can, or that they are any less successful at learning than young people. There is a myth perpetuated in society that people beyond retirement age have lost heir mental abilities, and canÆt keep up with the younger generation, that they are no longer useful, but in fact they represent a most valuable resource (Shearing, 1992, 11).
With advances in protection for older people in terms of retirement plans and pensions, it has been considered that
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