Age and Power
Let me begin by saying that this post is likely not about what you might think it will be about given the title. I’m not going to discuss the world’s predilection for geriatric and patriarchal leadership—although that is a subject worthy of exploration. I’m also not going to discuss how some older people feel as though they’ve become invisible in our youth and beauty-oriented culture—although that’s also a worthwhile topic of exploration. Strangely, both realities are true. We have many aging and aged people in power, and they’re keeping the world stuck in ways of being that no longer serve us. We also tend to eschew the true wisdom of the elders in favor of what is young and energetic, and exciting. However, what I really want to talk about in this post is how aging can give us power to serve this world in meaningful and productive ways rather than self-serving and destructive ones. The author and his spouse at a vigil for Alex Pretti. Photo by Hayley Jarman For the most part, I came ...