Have you seen the YouTube clip of the Zimmers— a group of older folks singing a refrain from “My Generation” by The Who?
They look like they’re having a good time making the point that their generation is cool too. Interestingly, a lot of normally ageist folks are applauding—expressing a kind of ‘good for you’ (you nice, sweet, otherwise decrepit old fogies). Personally, I think the song and the singing are fun, but it also reinforces a lot of ‘old people’ stereotypes.
Putting
By Don Arnoudse
Bio
My
daughter, Sara, is about to turn 21. Her impending birthday has
triggered my own memories of that familiar refrain of youth…”I can’t
wait until I’m old enough to….go to school, to learn to drive, to vote,
to get a credit card, to stay out past midnight, to travel on my own,
to get my first apartment, to get my first real job, to go to night
clubs and bars, and so on and so on.”
It got me to wondering.
What are the advantages of age now that I’m staring 60
I am thinking about all the things older people told me over the
years—don’t worry, relax, smell the roses, live life in the moment,
learn from your mistakes, and, above all, love other people and
yourself. Much of my life hasn’t been spent practicing these gems from
my predecessors. It’s been about struggling to do it right, doing it my
way, resisting anything I didn’t like, and (in one way or another)
controlling myself and other people.
Love,
when it appeared, was like a fleeting
An essay was recently sent to me about the current quagmire in Iraq
that drew parallels between the current conflict and WWII. I am 100% in
agreement with the author’s conclusion that America and our people
fought a righteous war against Hitler and the Japanese. I have nothing
but respect and gratitude for the sacrifices and duty of my parents and
their generation. I agree with the author’s idea that the Islamic
fundamentalist Jihadists are committed to
Think about the positive attributes of growing older, and ‘wisdom’
will always appear near the top of the list. Until recently, I had
assumed ‘wisdom’ was a kind of ‘right knowledge’. Every time someone
says the Serenity Prayer, I am reminded of this attribute again.
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I
cannot change, the courage to change the things that I can, and the
wisdom to know the difference.”
By Elizabeth Russell
Bio
Interesting being asked for my comments on aging by Jim at a time
when I am engaged in thinking about it myself. A year ago, I moved into
a Seniors Retirement Center and I have been wondering about the wisdom
of that choice ever since. It has seemed to me that the people living
here are primarily finding ways to “spend” time while waiting for that
big event. My response has been to find things to do in San Francisco
and take myself
By Lilly Page
I was watching Oprah recently, a program featuring a few of our
famous stars speaking on aging. They were talking about this whole idea
of what your real age is. One was only 50, so just a baby to
me, the other was 65 and didn’t look more than 55, but the one that
caught my eye was Diahann Carol at 71 years old. Yikes, she looked
fabulous!!!!
I
have always been one to mention my age, as I have always enjoyed
getting older. I intentionally want to give people younger than
I don’t know that I agree with Crabby Old Lady’s idea to vote out the entire Congress in the bi-annual elections on November 7th. But I sure think we should vote and have our experience and wisdom speak.
I also don’t think we should turn ‘Boomers’ into a one-issue
constituency —“aging issues such as social security, Medicare and so
forth”. We should certainly speak if we having something to say about
those issues, but more importantly, we should be taking responsibility