WHY?
The Question I Cannot Answer
A doctor called me “elderly” and I was shocked and dismayed. I asked her what made her think that, and she said: “The day you turn 60, everyone becomes elderly.” As an aside, she was just out of residency and I refused to ever see her again, especially after she followed up with my being “spry”.
I spoke with my uncle yesterday. Some people think I have an astute political mind. All I know about politics, I learned at Uncle Richard’s knee. HE is the most astute political mind I have ever known. He raised a question: He cannot understand why the Democratic party elite and donors are turning on the leader of the Party. Neither of us have an answer for that, but I think it might have something to do with the concept of “elderly.” My take below, I hope you will add your thoughts to the comments, because I really want to understand.
When that doc called me “elderly” I physically recoiled. I have none of the “symptoms” of “elderly.” I spent time thinking about what “elderly” honestly means. The dictionary definition is “of advanced age.” Kinda sorta kluge.
In my neighborhood there are two woman who are the same age. Currently 80. Ten years ago, one of them ended up needing a walker, rarely leaves her house except to have her hair done or to get groceries. She spends her time reading “romance novels” delivered to her house on a regular basis. She was old when she was young.
The other woman, today, 13 July 2024, is hiking the Appalachian Trail. She has cut out all full marathons but still runs half-marathons. She works on the Chester County Trail. She mucks stalls at a local ranch where, in addition to other things, they work with autistic children. She leads local hikes several days every week, except when she is out of town hiking somewhere else. Several years ago (in her 70’s) she climbed Kilimanjaro. Not a chance this woman is “elderly.”
I am thinking that we all have stereotypical inferences of “elderly” – mostly things we can see. I think many people have a fear of becoming my neighbor who reads porn as a lifestyle, and that they will seem “elderly.” With all sorts of limitations and the thought that they will be less than human. Invisible. Incapable of contribution.
But then there is reality. For example, I have more than a few contemporaries who are hard of hearing. Likely this is due to the number of concerts attended. (Yes, I count some Deadheads as friends.) But we’re Boomers, and have technology. The people I know have hearing aids that work in concert with their phones and computers, and they hear just fine leveraging the technology. While we think of hearing loss as a feature of aging, there are people who are born deaf, and others who become deaf at an early age due to disease. Like Helen Keller. (If you don’t know who she was, you should look her up, she is inspirational.)
As we get older, our parts are not as supple as they once were. And yet, we all know young people who have physical limitations. Anyone remember the Jerry Lewis telethons?
But somehow there is a mental picture of “elderly” and I think it’s possible that those Hollywood donors, who are always concerned with “how things look” believe that President Biden doesn’t LOOK presidential. Lacking, for example, the youthful vigor of JFK. Let’s remember, that permanent tan was from the drugs he was taking for Addison’s disease.
Could a major point be that people fear getting older so much that they want to push President Biden away for how he looks? Do they not realize that the alternative to getting older is dying young?
My uncle Richard is a generation older than I, and while yeah, he walks slower than he used to, he has not lost his insights, his wit, his memories, nor even his comic timing. His is still a brilliant political mind. President Biden is still a brilliant political mind, even if he no longer dances, even if his walks slower because of a problem with a poorly healed left foot problem. You can see it in his accomplishments, the legislation he has and is championing, the Israel-Hamas peace deal that is down to the last details.
So my guess on “why” is “he looks elderly”. What’s yours?
Thanks for the compliments; enough to redden my cheeks, but my my "Why?" was not exactly as you put it. I did not intend to imply that there are not enough valid reasons to prompt concern about the President's age and his ability to run the Nation for the frequent choruses of "4 more years!", let alone successfully prosecute a campaign sufficient to prevent giving Trump a second and more fruitful opportunity to destroy all the good things in our country.
I am 95 and have myriad physical and cognitive problems. I forget names, dates and events more and more frequently. On the other hand, I did not have most of those problems when I was 85 and was able to host a weekly, well attended and lively discussion group until last year.
My concern was why so many allegedly astute politicians found it necessary to go so public with their concerns. Surely their experience taught them to know that the media, right and left, love to stir the pot and magnify whatever are valid concerns into a pending crisis: the effect being to seriously damage whatever campaign the Democratic Party decides to support.
In short, it is time to make a decision on the way forward and do our utmost to avoid the tragedy that the talking heads and chattering opinion writers are allowing themselves to foment.
Look no further than our MSM for much of the cause. Controversy sells. They normalized all of the lies and hate spewing from TriumpCo that it's no longer newsworthy to them. There is no bottom to what he will say or do - but Biden is fair game. They're being held to entirely different standards because they can sell more papers that way. They print Clooney headlines because they know it will create outrage and create confusion. They create the division to make themselves relevant in a world that sees them as archaic. The New York Times is 173 years old - can we talk about "elderly"?!?
As a nation, we're obsessed with youth - the Hollywood elite especially so. (Hell - Clooney has been lifted so many times, if he has another he'll need a zipper on his shirt collar.) We're bombarded with ads for products to make us look younger, remove wrinkles, sculpt our bodies - take this, eat this, rub on that - and don't even get me started on the ED commercials! And, because we obsess over youth, we treat our older population like crap. I'm invisible when I walk into a store - which is actually ridiculous because I have the money to spend.
I'm 72. I wear hearing aids - connected to my iPhone. I had a hip replaced in May with the other in a couple of months. My knees are shot and they may be getting replaced, as well. I'm getting an implanted heart monitor August 7th because there's an electrical issue they can't quite figure out.
New parts and tune-ups while they're still under warranty.
No, I'm not as quick and agile as I once was and I probably won't be camping atop Half Dome, again - even if they would allow it. But we'll be spending a month in Europe next year - trading hostels and camping for hotels with room service.
People are very foolish if they equate old age with weakness.