I’m not a younger man.
It hurts to kind that brief sentence, however then once more, just about every thing hurts today. Nonetheless, the bodily results of my 60-plus birthdays are much less painful than the social and cultural insults piled on to America’s senior residents.
In Africa and Asia, the aged are honored as oracles, keepers of traditions and collective knowledge. In our tradition seniors are disparaged as drags on society, obstacles to Social Safety reform and hoarders of wealth and houses their youngsters and grandchildren won’t ever be capable to afford. The as soon as completely cool and hip Child Boomers at the moment are cursed as pickleball-playing parasites who gained’t get out of the best way and provides one other era an opportunity! So, out of spite, we gobble each tablet hawked on the Lester Holt present to dwell even longer.
Two outdated males at the moment are working for president of the USA. The identical two outdated males who ran for president 4 years in the past. Each Donald Trump and Joe Biden have exhibited apparent indicators of bodily and psychological deterioration because the final election cycle, and that’s saying one thing. Regardless of repeated denials by the candidates and their assorted flunkies, our eyes don’t lie even when everybody else does.
Every time President Biden fumbles by means of a speech or confuses Mexico with Egypt or Donald Trump thinks Nikki Haley is Nancy Pelosi and offers Vladimir Putin the inexperienced gentle to assault our closest allies, the TV speaking heads speculate how the crucial “senior citizen vote” will reply to political assaults centered on age.
No want to stress, fellas. We’re used to it.
I play softball within the LA Rec and Parks senior league. Our groups are populated with 60-, 70- and 80-somethings. We actually have a 91-year-old, an area legend named Sy Badener. On the sphere we dwell a Walter Mittyesque delusional flashback to these long-ago days once we may rating from second, throw to residence with out hitting three cutoff males, and on the very least, bear in mind if we’re the house group or the guests. In senior softball, ice packs and Epsom salt are extra vital than bats and gloves. Our age-related illnesses are common and due to this fact we are usually a forgiving bunch when the spirit is prepared however the flesh is weak. And it helps that the stakes are low. Chances are high, even when we make a horrible blunder that prices our group a recreation, no person will bear in mind subsequent week. The identical can’t be mentioned for the chief of the free world.
The age difficulty is inconceivable to disregard this election cycle. We confront it in our personal lives every day, why shouldn’t we take into account it once we vote? The Spouse and I simply returned from a thousand-mile highway journey from Portland to Los Angeles. After flying north, we rented a cargo van to retrieve furnishings and private belongings from a rental property we lately bought. The 40-year-old Enterprise supervisor appeared particularly solicitous about our skill to soundly function a big van with restricted visibility throughout an extended slog by means of driving rain.
Not all people ages equally. There are important 90-year-olds and infirm 30-somethings. Nonetheless, a minimal requirement for the presidency must be the bodily stamina and psychological acuity to carry a dialog with no group of injury management advisors racing to the microphones to elucidate what he meant to say.
There’s one thing to be mentioned for expertise. However there’s additionally one thing to be mentioned for taking a bow and leaving the stage gracefully.
Doug McIntyre’s column seems Sundays. His novel, “Frank’s Shadow” is offered at amazon.com. Attain him at: Doug@DougMcIntyre.com.
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