Growing older and wiser. Part 1--What is life all about?

This is an edited version of a presentation given at the 1999 RACGP Annual Scientific Meeting, held in Adelaide. Lady Valerie Hicks is the widow of Sir Stanton Hicks a renowned South Australian physiologist. As 1999 was the Year of the Older Person, Lady Valerie was asked for her reflections on what getting older means, the place of the older person in today's society and for her thoughts on life in general. Her erudite and thought provoking response to this task will be published over the next three issues.