We recently sat at a birthday party. Half of the guests were already several years old and had reached retirement age. Everyone was happy; everyone toasted and wished the birthday child luck and, above all, good health.

But I smiled again. The guests knew each other, they had often met at the birthday boy's house. The logical questions were "How are you?" or "Are you fit?" Then it started: people talked about knee pain, back pain, shoulder pain, cataract operations and physiotherapy. Good advice flew back and forth, eager nodding to everything - everyone was "there", they knew the situations and knew about that doctor, that hospital and that great osteopath.

At some point, one of the “youngsters” clicked in, provided a welcome interruption to the health discussion and diverted thoughts to other interesting topics.

I know that Gerhard Uhlenbruck, the German immunologist and aphorist, once said, "Even iron health will one day be a thing of the past." Health is almost the most important thing when getting older. And yet I think that active seniors who engage with their environment, who take part in seniors@work, for example, have no time for self-pity or aches and pains, or can tolerate certain limitations better through their activity.

How do you feel about this? Can you understand my thoughts?

Beatrice