Meet Maria, the world’s oldest living person

How old is old, you might ask? For many of us, the answer is usually anyone ten years older than ourselves! This question is harder to answer than you might think, however, as our attitudes to old age regularly change, both personally and as a society. We also tend to age differently, and may not physically experience ageing in just the same way. Think of HM the Queen, for example, who continued to work and serve in her 90s: an idea that would leave most of us feeling exhausted.

‘I was reminded by an Anna Chaplain just this week’, says Debbie, ‘that it is more helpful to think of phases or stages of life, which we may enter at different ages’. So, as Maria Branyas Morera becomes the oldest person in the world at 117, we can acknowledge that she can teach us a great deal about ageing, in all sorts of ways, not least that she is determined to always learn new things every day.

With thanks to Terry Martin for sharing this article with us.