What’s a Senior, and Who Decided that Definition?

I take issue with the word “senior”. As in, I am a senior. Senior what? Senior to whom? I am 63. I hardly think of myself as a senior, citizen or otherwise.

Most of the dictionaries that I consulted defined senior as being senior (or older) to someone else, or a senior (versus a sophomore) in high school, or a person with a higher standing or rank (a Senior fellow of a college), or junior and senior (father and son). So how did we get to an older adult becoming a senior citizen? What? Senior to younger adults? And how did it get such a bad rap? Was it because of Social Security and Medicare? You have to be 60, 62, 65, 67, or 70 to collect payment. What’s up with that? Can’t they decide on an age for seniors? If a person is 70 and a senior, then is the person 67 not senior? Because you have to be senior to someone. So is an 11 year old a senior citizen to a 5 year old?

We add attributes to senior citizens, like infirmity, lacking mobility, slowing down, pathetic balance without realizing the injustice that we have done to older individuals who still are vibrant, move well, stay strong. Some 12 year olds can’t balance and fall down a lot. Are they having a senior moment?

I think we should do away with the designation of seniors as a group of people. The French have the right idea. Older adults are men and women of “a certain age”. That sounds more uplifting and positive than “senior citizen”.

A “person of a certain age” sounds like they can still move.

A senior citizen? Not so much.