AGE MATTERS

I know that age discrimination is illegal, as it should be. But there is no law against my sharing my personal discoveries as an older senior citizen. I have found, without a doubt, that my abilities are not the same as they were 10 years ago and definitely not the same as they were 20 years ago.


The physical changes are obvious even though people may say that I remain rather active. I can only swim for a fraction of the time that I did 10 or 20 years ago. I continue to work out at the gym but at a much slower pace.


More importantly I feel that I am still mentally active, but that also is not the same as it was before. I cannot judge other people but I can note changes in myself. My senior friends and I pass emails along about the problems of old age and many of them are true even though we laugh at them. As I look back I realize that I would have been considered rather “sharp” and earned a couple of advanced degrees. I held two jobs at one time, took care of the home, and remembered in my head the myriad of chores that had to be done. Today I most often resort to making lists in order not to forget important tasks to be done. I am the webmaster for two internet sites. I designed and keep them up to date using a program that does the HTML for me. I am sure that if the internet was available 20 years ago I would have been a master of HTML myself and probably a competent programmer. I tried to learn the language of HTML now and gave up on the idea. Many of my older friends use the computer, primarily for email. But some refuse to learn even the basics of computer use. Such seniors forget that they are living in the twenty first century


Yes, I think that age matters when we are choosing our leaders. Experience is important, intelligence most assuredly more important, but we should look to choosing leaders who are at the time of their lives when they are most competent to make decisions clearly and quickly.