People need to be valued as they age just as vintage cars gain value. When I was working my way through college at Nob Hill a decorative hardware store, a very friendly elder came in. He was lively and engaging. He asked me, How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you were? I was at that time trying to act older and look older. It is only now this question has a different meaning to me. If you want inspiration google super agers. I met one when I took a workshop from Tao Porchon Lynch when she was 100. She was one of the most full of life and joy and amazing people I have ever met (and still doing shouder stands). This is a quote from her in the Yoga Journal “I don’t feel any different now that I’ve turned 100. I’m not even scared. And I’ll never stop practicing yoga—it’s the dance of life! The breath is the breath eternal, which makes all things possible.”
Last month I mentioned Becca Levy’s book Breaking the Age Code. My favorite line of hers is we are all old people in training. She writes about how ageism is rampant so many places including the media, health care and in corporations. The anti aging industry takes in half a trillion dollars a year and botox injections have trippled among young adults. It makes money to make us feel old. Levy feels anti-aging advertising contributes to anti-old people sentiments. Older people watch more television than any age group however only 2.8 percent of TV characters are old. They are often portrayed with mental or physical decline. One exception she mentions is the British show Last Tango in Halifax, one that I really enjoyed. I’ve also noticed in recent movies many of the great Academy Award winning older actresses and actors are not given deep roles they are just charicatures. In plot lines of many comedies they always seem to have to smoke pot and do extremely silly things.
Many people think the elders are a drain on our economy. Those over 50 have 77% of the total net worth of US households. At 32% of the population they spend more on travel, recreation and personal care products than any other age group. Older people are healthier and more vigorous than ever before so they are not the drain on the healthcare system some believe. The Ohio Longitudial Study on Aging and Retirement showed that age beliefs determine life span. Participants with positive age beliefs live an average of 7.5 years longer. This increase is greater than the influence of gender, race, economic, socioeconomic status, age, loneliness and health!
So what do we do? Here are her ABC’s of liberation.
A – awareness of negative and positive images of aging in society. We can look at things like our own negative beliefs, where is there age diversity, stereotypes in every day life and what we think of our future selves.
B – blame where it belongs. Blame ageism not aging itself. Understand some of our elders health and memory issues come from society itself.
C – challenge ageism, call it out. The Gray Panthers have been drawing attention to ageism since the mid 70’s. With Maggie Kuhn as leader they stopped Congress from making Medicare cuts. They were instrumental in helping abolish manatory retirement age in many industries. A new leader Jack Kupferman put attention on how older people were not getting deserved relief after Hurricane Sandy. He also called out and worked on the neglect of older people (especially in nursing homes) during the pandemic.