"The Politics of Aging."
Miriam Reibold
Sunday, July 28th, 2002

I am very happy to have this opportunity to talk to you about us the old people. And so you can understand where I come from, I have some TRANSPARENCIES to show you:

1. AGING IS EVERYONE'S FUTURE
2. HOW DARE YOU PRESUME I WOULD RATHER BE YOUNGER!
3. IF YOU DON'T THINK AGE DISCRIMINATION AFFECTS YOU, JUST WAIT

My message about the value of old age is for all of you in this gym - the young, the middle-aged, and the elderly. All of you in front of me are now alive - living - and all of you, unless you have an early death, are steadily and inexorably growing closer to the day when you will be 'old'.

It is unfortunate that many people are unhappy about their aging - that they dread its coming - and that they have bought into the current negativism regarding old age. I would like to raise your consciousness about that last one third of your life. You should smile at your first gray hair, or wrinkle, in anticipation of a great next stage of your life - old age, because to be old is just another natural time in our lives - different, with good and bad features, just like the other stages -except that the end result is the end.

My goal is to convince you of the value of your old age. In the reading from Kings, Solomon asks for an understanding heart to judge and to distinguish right from wrong. Job said, 'so with old age is wisdom, and with length of days understanding.' In Matthew, in the parable of the pearl and of the treasure, which was the kingdom of God, at the end (I am paraphrasing) when Jesus asks the disciples: 'Did you get it? Do you know what I was talking about?' They answered- 'Of course, we did. Every learned scribe is one who can bring forth from his storeroom both the new and the old' That is what we who are old have, a valuable storeroom of knowledge , built up over the years from our experiences, from all the connections in our brains. We have wisdom to offer.

It is a myth that our brains deteriorate as we age. This does not occur in normal aging. Our brain cells can form new connections, new pathways. These connections can continue until the end of life. The plasticity of the human brain means it can decline or continue to grow. Old age does not program us either way.

There is no biologically programmed steady deterioration in adaptable intelligence as we age. It is absurd for us to live out our lives cowering in fear, waiting and watching to see how soon we will fall apart . The model of aging as a time of gradual decline is erroneous and passe. Now the concept is of a vigorous adult life span, ending with a precipitous decline, usually 8 months before our death. So our life chart is not a gentle downward sloping line but rather this- a horizontal line - which drops down suddenly near our death.

Our intelligence is called 'crystallized’- meaning we have experience, knowledge, expertise, wisdom and judgment. The negative yardstick which measures how far we are from being young is inappropriate. We should move on from the values of youth, what Betty Friedan calls 'playpen mentality’. And as Maggie Kuhn said, 'We are not wrinkled babies.'

Our old age is not a time bomb, waiting to go off. Our brain is plastic. We choose the reality of our aging, rocking chair sedentary or vigorous and involved.

Things change so quickly in our modern technology that the word 'old' means obsolete with negative connotations like second hand, fading, unattractive, worthless, even though we value old wine, old furniture, old violins, old cheese.. But as we mature, we are ripening - we are not going rotten.

How would you answer this question from Satchel Page, a famous old baseball star: “How old would you be if you didn't know how old you was?”

Why is it that we don’t happily anticipate our growing old -

The answer is the prejudice of Ageism. And the reason for ageism is necrophobia, the fear of death. People will talk to you about their politics, their religion, their income, even their sex life, but they do not want to discuss death. We who are old are a reminder of what is ahead.

It is a weird prejudice for the white racist will not gradually turn into a person of color, black, brown, red, or yellow. The male sexist will not turn into a female, not without a very fancy operation. But all of you who go on living will continue from youth to middle age - to old age.

It is not just the young and the middle-aged who can be ageists. Many older people have blindly accepted the current societal stereotypes and have arbitrarily decided they have nothing left to offer. And if you are a baby boomer and you are thinking, "I am no ageist" yet you are spending great sums to plastic surgeons and cosmetic companies to forestall passing from youth to middle age to old age, what is that but a devaluation of old age?

Our wrinkles are not necessarily ugly. Did you ever stop to think that the smooth unwrinkled skin of youth is not necessarily beautiful nor handsome? It is as amorphous as a poached egg sitting blandly on a piece of white toast - there is nothing showing on it.

I predict that as more and more baby boomers age into their 80's, the day will come when wrinkles are considered beautiful and desirable, so instead of eye-liners and cheek and lip coloring, there will be charcoal pencils to use, so the young will not all have to look appallingly alike, with no character or experience showing on their faces.

If as I talk you feel I have a bias for old women, remember that is what I am and also remember today for every 100 women aged 65 to 69 there are 83 men, for every 100 women aged 85 on up, there are now 42 men. We are the majority.

** TRANSPARENCY ***

REAL WOMEN DON'T HAVE HOT FLASHES THEY HAVE POWER SURGES