LET’S DISRUPT AGING

THE OLD RUSTY NAIL

 AN E-JOURNAL FOR OLD PEOPLE

         Russell Burton, an Old Person

The title of this article is from the title of a piece written by American Association for Retired People (AARP) CEO, Jo Ann Jenkins in the October 2014 issue of that publication.  The author having been President of this organization before becoming its CEO I would peg her age in late 50s or early 60’s guessing from accompanying photograph. Of course published photographs can be misleading but her article indicates that she is somewhere in that age bracket.

AARP membership begins when a person reaches 50 years of age so I suppose she could not have started those careers before she was 50 assuming you must be a member of AARP in order to hold those offices. On the other hand, AARP doesn’t ask for IDs so I suppose someone if they so chose could become a member of this organization at the ripe old age of 49.

What is interesting about AARP is that it is a group formed in support of retired people as its name implies.  Now, people have been known to retire in their 20’s but of course the vast majority of retirees are late mid-life to being old like me.  Still, I did retire when I was in my late 60’s and like I have written before, that decade is a piece of cake regarding aging.  In fact, being old could not have been further from my mind.

This takes me back to the intent of the title of this article.  Of course for someone in their early 60’s to talk about aging is like a physician telling sick people how they feel.  At that age, I was at the apex of my career and aging really never crossed my mind.  I assume being CEO of such a large corporation as AARP is probably the pinnacle of Ms. Jenkins’s career.  So, why is she thinking about aging? Well she is in her AARP article.

AARP because of its intent has always struggled to identify with really old people who need the most help with the symptoms of old age.  Certainly youngsters in their 60’s and even in their 70’s are perfectly capable of living with much less support.  And, that is too bad because we old people do need a strong advocate as we deal with this 'disease' of old age. 

So, Jo Ann is beginning to struggle with this age thing as she is determined not to be defined, as she named it, with one’s age.  As if when someone reaches the ancient age of 60 they are thus identified as being old.  To be exact we are always identified with our age.  You know first I was a baby, then a child or adolescent and then a teenager too young to legally drink alcohol and vote in a national election.  Then I became a young adult and suddenly without warning, I was middle-age which depending on one's view point can continue into the 70’s.

Yes, I said the 70’s which I learned when I was told of a study conducted by an expert in management dynamics.  You see I worked for the Air Force as a scientist for nearly thirty years.  During that time I was sent to several management classes in order to sharpen my management skills.  I must confess that my management skills did need sharpening.  In fact, I had too few management skills to sharpen as I later learned.

None the less, there I was deeply engrossed in my management class much of which I do not remember except this one tidbit of information.  The instructor told us that during one of his classes several years before he took an ad hoc survey on those people present about whom in his class considered themselves to be middle aged?  Most everyone raised their hand including a man in his 70’s!  Certainly age was not going to define him.

Jo Ann goes on to explain that this disrupting aging thing begins by feeling good about where we are in life.  Well, I hope she feels good about herself with her lofty position. Still, I could not agree more for when I was in my 70’s and retired and after some struggle with my loss of purposefulness I really felt good about where I was in my life but then I had no choice.  My goodness, I feel good about where I am in my life at age 84 + because I am still alive!  That alone is sufficient to make one feel good.

She goes on making herself feel good about growing old with the following statements: we face different challenges (you bet) and have different goals (staying alive is one big one); we are motivated by different things; we see the world through a lens shaped by ups and downs and gained wisdom; with age I am more ‘purposeful’ because of my experiences and wisdom; and, looking forward to the years ahead not looking back.

For some of us really old people we have to look forward because we can’t remember much when we do look back.

Her use of the word ‘purposeful’ intrigued me so I looked up the meaning in my Webster’s New World Thesaurus.  Essentially she means one is more focused when we age.  Now, I certainly disagree with that because before I retired I was extremely focused on my job as she must be.  When I retired I struggled for years trying to find my focus because in retirement I had lost it.  One day I was Chief Scientist of an Air Force laboratory and the next day I was a retired nobody obviously without a purpose.

So, I wonder how someone with a challenging job like she has as CEO of a multi-million dollar organization can understand what the realities of retirement are much less the challenges of being old.  Now I am quite certain that I will not live long enough to ask her about purposefulness when she is retired and living in the 80’s age bracket (if she is lucky) because I would be over a hundred.  Thoughts about living that long boggle my mind and I would not classify them as being in my hopes, dreams and aspirations.  

Yes, she can talk about the fun of growing old, because for her it is probably 20 + years from now and as I have written before, humans think about the future differently than they do the present.  And, the future has a nasty habit of suddenly becoming the here and now.

Still I like what she is trying to do by making aging a fun game.  Unfortunately it is not a game and it is not that much fun.  Still aging is a privilege which us old people must realize because not understanding that it is indeed a privilege would make being old a very depressing experience.  In that regard, I guess I am disrupting aging and living a relatively pain-free life is purposeful.

10/14

WANTING TO DIE AT 75 YEARS OLD

The old rusty Nail

AN E-JOURNAL FOR OLD PEOPLE

Russell Burton, an Old Person

The other day I saw Dr. Ezekial Emanuel, a practicing physician, affectionately called Zeke on public television (PBS).  He is the oldest and considered the smartest of the three rather famous Manuel’s including one of his brothers who is mayor of Chicago formerly Chief of Staff at the White House under President Obama.

During his interview he was most emphatic about his desire to die when he reached the young age of 75 years.  I note ‘a young age’ because as I look back several years when I was 75 I recall asking myself what is so difficult about this growing old stuff?

Then a couple of years later I began to notice a difference in my physical abilities including balance and the tendency to fall down with greater discomfort than I had previously experienced.  Another problem I acquired was a severe pain in my right leg as I walked even short distances. 

As I have written before, I put off seeing a physician for a couple of years as I thought it was somehow related to the minor drop foot I had acquired prior to this leg pain. You know the pitfalls of self-diagnosis.  But, when I did go for an examination I found that they were not related and that the leg pain could be treated with surgery.  Following the four hours of surgery and my rather rapid recovery and rehabilitation I was able to walk without any pain even one of longer than an hour.

The drop foot caused by a nerve disorder could have been treated with surgery when it first occurred.  Unfortunately, I had waited too long.

When Zeke was pressed by exactly what he meant about dying at age 75 he hedged his statement with the caveat that ‘well he was not going to kill himself but would not seek any medical care after he reached that age’.  When I heard that statement I remembered my leg surgery and how my quality of life was substantially improved because of it.

Zeke went on to note that there are so many disabilities associated with being old that the smart thing to do is just die.  You know he mentioned Alzheimer’s disease, reduced physical capabilities, chronic joint pain, and lack of creativity, just to name a few.  Well welcome to old age Zeke but I am not about to die and I have lived seven years plus passed your magical age of 75 and I am doing pretty well.  Oh sure I’m no 75 year old but I don’t want to die right now.

I was particularly upset about this ‘lack of creativity’ nonsense.  I hear this frequently that an old mind is not creative.  No not ‘as creative’ but dogmatically ‘not creative’ anymore.  Well I published a fantastic mystery novel ‘Mary’ of over 80,000 words which is available on Amazon Kindle for $5.99 when I was 79.  I started writing this Blog on old people when I was 80.  In fact I could not have written about being old starting at 80 without being 80!!!

Now he did concur that there are some ‘outliers’ who are doing pretty well regarding all of his listed infirmities like I am a rarity you know one in a million.  Well not so fast.  I play bridge on a regular basis with three ‘old people’ two of which are older than me, one of which is 87 and she is very capable at the game.  I have written about my uncle who is 92 and he is no mental cripple by any means not to mention the pleasure he has with his Scotch on the rocks each evening.

So what does Zeke mean by outliers?  In fact, I have monthly luncheons with my retired friends and except for one person all of us are mentally alert and physically capable of living a productive still interesting life.  Well some of them never did live a real interesting life even when they were in their prime.

Now Zeke is about 57 years old so 75 is a long way in the future and like I wrote about people are not good at thinking far into the future.  We evolved thinking about the here and now for several reasons one of which is survival.  We have in our DNA the desire to survive at all costs and that involves reacting to the present, not something several years down the road.  Simply, the future can not be appreciated in the present so it is caste off with only casual thought.

But the future has a nasty habit of becoming the present. And, the present must be dealt with now not in the future which takes us back to quality of life. 

Like I have written a good quality of life is just about everything in old age.  And, a good quality of life for old people requires hard work.  When we retire we too often think now I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do.  You know, my whole life has been filled with requirements many of which I disliked so now that is all gone.

Well, doing some form of physical exercise most everyday is work but it must be done!  Stimulating the brain with mental gymnastics requires effort but it must be done!  You know the old adage, ‘use it or loose it’.  A few years ago a common saying was, ‘a brain is a terrible thing to waste’ but even worse is ‘a brain going to waist is a terrible thing’.   

So, with that very clever turn of words, I close with the thought growing old is interesting but being old is damn hard work yet still interesting Zeke.

PS:

In the October 2014 issue of the Atlantic magazine Zeke wrote an article expressing the same sentiments under the title ‘Why I Hope to Die at 75’. I was intrigued by the correspondence from readers of this article published in the next issue under the heading ‘The Conversation’.

Many of my above views were echoed especially from the older readers.  And like my take the overwhelmingly majority of 74% of all ages disagreed with his ‘Hope’ (and dreams?) of dying at that age.  Of course quality of life was noted many times, simply living just to be living for most readers was not an option.

Of the several letters published many from older readers, not one mentioned that living to be an old person is living another role in life’s journey with many challenges but still very interesting if one’s quality of life remains at an acceptable level.  Half of the population does not have the privilege for they have died.

I liked one letter best recalling his 85-aged grandmother answer when asked who would want to live to be 100?  She replied ‘Someone 99’.  Simply, Zeke does not know what he is writing about until he lives to be 75 then he will probably want to live to be 76, then 77…

12/14