MODERN ELDERS SEEK AUDIENCE WITH YOUTHS

Modern elders want to be heard by someone.

They have much to impart to the rising generations, but there’s a problem.

Can the ‘Me Generation’ ever get over itself enough to make sense?

Will young people ever trust those who said never trust anyone over thirty?

The baby boomer who said it first lived past thirty; the youngest boomer out there is way over thirty.

With the boomer years listed as 1946-1964, I’ll do the math: the babiest of baby boomers have doubled thirty.

Now, with all their life experience and enthusiasm, it’s time to unload the burden of life experience so the youths won’t make the same mistake they did.

But you’ve got to wonder why old people today, who rejected the old people in their youth, think they’ve got something to say.

Maybe you’ve got something to say? If you’ve got a Facebook account, and a twitter account, you’re all set.

The world is your stage and you’re on it.

And . . . Go.

 

The problem, and there are a few, is the enthusiasm to share runs out; imagination runs down.

After that you start repeating yourself, recognize the redundancy, and panic.

You may review your offerings and say, to yourself, ‘I sound like a freaking idiot.’

At which point you also review your level of engagement, your likes, your clicks, your comments, and say, to yourself, ‘I may be an idiot, but I’ve got great engagement.’

The numbers say ‘Don’t stop’ but you’re tapped out. Now what?

One way is to join in the tribal dance of disrespect and start pointing fingers: they suck, they’re stupid, they don’t know their ass from their elbow, or shit from shinola.

Do that and know you’re in good company with frauds, phonies, hucksters, pinheads, and geeks.

They are your people to embrace, and they want a big old hug.

 

The Benefits Of Old Age Past Thirty

A question posted on twitter: What is the role of modern elders today?

 

The New Age of Aging explores older Americans’ desire to live long, purposeful lives and the legacy they wish to leave for future generations and beyond.

 

Since it’s social media where kings of the keyboard hold sway, here are some of the posts in response:

 

• If I’m lucky, I will live longer as a retiree than I did in my working life!

• At age 65 I have no interest in leaving a legacy. It’s all a dream. In reality there is no time and/or space

• the scariest part is realizing that i am now part of being an elder, a young elder but an elder. life goes by too fast

• Life after 50 is horrible here

• It would be great if they could form groups,countrywide,& talk to the youth of today & fix their fears that they themselves must have had at their ages.! It would probably help stop all of the Suicides by the young people of today, especially many young males who go missing.Great.

• As long as the brain will accept learning mode…LEARN. Become informed and inform others. Build things fix things just keep doing. I’m hoping that modern science and medicine may assist our bodies to overcome some of the effects of age. Soon would be nice.

An Example Of Modern Elders

If you’ve ever planned anything, then you know how difficult it is to get people to show up.

If you’ve been invited to anything, then you know how easy it is to cancel.

So imagine a panel of modern elders all set to educate a room full of young people seeking answers.

First off, the youths will ditch the event and watch it on their phone, on YouTube, or learn all they need to know from their trusted sources: their peers.

It’s different when a modern elder is their boss at work.

Not the boss that lays down the law and says, “This is how we so things here, so do it this way or find another job.”

Instead, it’s the boss who invites engagement in the process, who listens, who explains the goals of the company and motivates workers to strive toward them.

That’s a modern elder, someone to cheer for.

Their staff goes the extra mile because they know the boss has walked in their shoes,worn them out, and got a new pair.

He gives them hope and purpose, and he gets hope and purpose in return.

Together they get the job at hand done and move on to the next.

 

How To ‘Modern Elder’ By Example

When you’re a fan of a celebrity, and find out they’ve had eight kids with three wives, does that change things?

Do their songs of love, loss, and faith in finding love again ring the same, or are they revealed as just another f-stick too good to use a condom?

You read all about movie stars, rockers, and professional sportsmen with all the wives and kids and give them a pass.

What happens when you find the same thing about a salt of the earth television preacher talking about family values, a country singer talking about loyalty, or your neighbor who takes a breath between spouting Fox News talking points and the new minister in their church who replaced the one transferred for unstated reasons.

With wives, baby-mommas, and kids of all ages spread coast to coast, do they share a legitimate message?

Was J.D. Salinger a modern elder?

 

My takeaway from Salinger the movie:

He had a man-cave with a lock on the door where he couldn’t be disturbed.

If that sounds good at first, it’s not so much when the movie showed his young kids watching the building where their daddy was.

It reminded me of Hemingway’s kids saying, “In the mornings he was inaccessible, in the afternoons too accessible.”

Who doesn’t want a man-cave, a writing room, and art room, a music room, a whatever the hell you want to call it room, with a lock on the door and only one key?

Sounds good until some kind of healthy hit lands, a heart attack, a stroke, a diabetic coma. Then what? Then you die in your little hidey-hole.

No thanks. That’s not my kind of writing room.

 

Be the modern elder in the room who shows the old way things were done.

Dig fence post holes with a shovel, mix cement in a wheel barrow, talk about hard lives for life, not on occasion, and be glad to know the difference.

Or write a blog?

I don’t claim the title of Modern Elder, but I’m old enough.

In addition, I don’t write a blog like boomerpdx to change the world to my liking.

My goal here is to contribute to the common good, to create a path forward.

Here’s how I do it, which isn’t for everyone:

Your wife isn’t some kind of disposable item you upgrade.

Your kids are not a burden until they turn eighteen and disappear from your view.

Your community extends beyond your front door, be familiar with it.

In the year 2024, an election year, register to vote and cast your ballot for the candidate with the most trust, the most faith, the most hope; cast your ballot for the candidate who has been in the grind for life.

Consider this while marking it up: who will bring responsible people along with them in a win, and who will attract bottom feeding scum who see opportunity in a win?

Hint: Modern Elders knows the difference between them. You should too.