I think aging issues are well worth discussing, beginning with family and extending to one’s community, the nation, and the world. A significant expenditure of tax funds goes to support the aged, and if not for government support, most of the aging population would be helpless. Otherwise, only the wealthy and those with job-related healthcare benefits would be protected.
As such, I seek to know what young people think and feel about aging. If a person lives long enough, they are going to get there. I wrote that Lenette and I never thought about getting old or the dramatic change in our way of living. We lived as if we did not have an ending. The future was an unknown but not to be feared.
Being part of an old population is an eye-opener. While we knew children, young staff, professionals, entrepreneurs, power, leadership, and communication, we knew nothing about aging. Now we are one of them, living as best we can each day.
Death is around the corner, and we have no idea how far away the corner is. We either accept this journey as an everyday thing, or we are willfully blind to the changes we are experiencing. We see this in those we now live with and assume that they see this in us. Still, many of us do not give in to the inevitable. I do not. I write and create, I lecture, and despite my macular degeneration, I try to read. And Lenette and I look forward to and love the give and take we experience over dinner with our aging friends.
Sy