Doing Nothing Is Something

 Too often I hear people say, "You old people sit around and do nothing all day so why can't you..." Besides it being something they wouldn't dare mouth to someone  younger and/or  that it is just plain rude, it isn't true. "Old People" are really geriatric geniuses. Why? We, once professionals and workers, have to put up with such idiotic, unproven charges such as this. I will use myself, an "old people" as an example of why no old people I know sit around all day doing nothing. Sick people maybe do, no matter what age, because they are forced to, or they simply want to, which is no one else's business open for comment. The utter conceit of younger humans berating older humans doesn't make sense since it is really a comment on themselves to come. Not to waste time here, which I assume is the issue, I will tell you what we "old people" do all day while we are sitting around doing nothing. I arise daily around seven in the morning. I usually have pre-planned my day. I live alone in my own dwelling place that I bought, furnished, maintain and live in daily. It doesn't take care of itself. There are utility bills to pay, financial features that every home owner has, things to be fixed and maintained so that everything runs properly and well. I have neighbours who respect my space and I, theirs, but we attempt to continue as good neighbours. I have relatives that I don't bother constantly nor they me. We respect each other and are grateful for the family ties and events. There are events socially and while some individuals need constant and continuous socializing activities, I am one of the likely over fifty percent who don't suffer from loneliness (as charged) and are fully enjoying our solitary choice. I like to attend some social events and not others.  To these, I may go, stay until I want to leave, and usually find my own way there and back unless someone offers. I ask for help rarely, but when I need help I have no shame in asking. I don't appreciate pity or cooing at me as though I am an ancient artifact, a mindless creature beyond fixing. Age intelligence, all intelligence, is normal unless a person is ill. And if they are ill, perhaps with Alzheimers, I hope that the world doesn't forget them with its superior memory. Alzheimers persons have rights to be how they are because they ARE. My "doing nothing all day" has, even though I seldom go out because I do not especially like going out, never have, I have meal making, house cleaning, laundry, computer work and games: all the same things that every home owner has in the day. My entertainment is streaming movies, keeping up with news stories and series, writing, journaling, emailing, ordering needs online and making phone calls and doing business. At the end of the day, I like to sit down and read and watch my large screen and simply kick back  just like everyone else doing "nothing". Age is not a factor. I am not an "old people", I am just another one of you.