"IT'S ALWAYS 15 YEARS FROM NOW . . ."

    ( A 2018 revision:  "Now that he has been convicted of sordid deeds in his past, it is painful to remember that Bill Cosby was once consider a  'funny man'.  And one of the earliest recordings of his monologues had a title somewhat like that.  I used the following quote before the accusations became public, to the great disappointment of many who had liked his persona. While he has been discredited, the following quote need not be.)  

  When Bill Cosby turned 50, he expressed his hope that "old age is always fifteen years from now."  Many Americans are discovering the truth of his book title, Time Flies, as they count these flying 'fifteen years'.  Statistics from the late 20th century ---1995 --- gave something of the dimensions
of the greying of the population.  In that year, there were  approximately thirty-three and a half million Americans sixty-five and older, or about one in eight persons. Some counts reflect a female/male ratio on 145 women for every 100 men.

     Stereotypes abound ---most of them denigrating to older persons.  A kind of 'if you have seen one, you have seen them all' bias persists, though, in fact, there is greater diversity among the sixty-five and over population than among any other age cohort.
And, despite popular assumptions to the contrary, a very small percentage of those 65+ live in retirement homes, nursing homes , and other similar institutions.

    Now that the counting has begun on my own 'fifteen years til old', I sometimes think of two of my personal heroes that defied age-stereotyping.  One was William Jenkins, a retired Methodist (pre-United) minister, who at 89 built a bookcase that I still have.
He would also borrow my seminary class texts, and on returning them would ask me, "What do you think [Paul] Tillich meant by such and such?"  The year that I turned 50, I ran a fifteen mile road race through the hills of Charleston, West Virginia.  Later I discovered that my respectable time had been bettered by half and hour by 81 year old John Pianfetti. The next year he was 'only' a quarter of an hour ahead of me at the finish line.  His hometown newspaper later did a feature on him with the title, "The Fact That I Run is Why I am 93".  I was told that he died at 97.

                                          (She is Stretching our definitions of "Old")


  Another damaging stereotype is that 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks.'  Older people, like anyone else, can change if they are motivated and have the requisite health.  They (we) are not too set in their (our) ways to experience  emotional change and growth.  Many years ago, Hugh Downs wrote Thirty Dirty Lies About Old.  I would add a "Thirty First" lie: 'Counseling for older persons is useless.'  In truth,  "the mental health needs of older persons are increasingly becoming the central counseling concern of those in ministry." (Koenig and Weaver,  Counseling Troubled Older Adults)

   Among the mental health needs of the older adult, late life depression is a significant public health concern.  When older persons become depressed, many erroneously assume that this is just a part of 'getting older'.  Depression can be precipitated by various causes--biological and physiological reasons, health changes, grief and losses, and life disruptions.  Older persons' depressive symptoms can also be mistaken for dementia.  Tragically, depressed older adults commit suicide at a rate greater than any other age group.  In truth, depression among this age group can be treated with a high rate of success.  

    For others, an emotional-health possibility is a life review--an opportunity to assess the meaning of our lives.  And, putting 'the story' in a written form for our progeny can be an inestimable gift.  I often wish that I had my grand-parents' and parents'  'autobiographies' in a written form.  

   Those '15 years' move at an inexorable pace.  May we not 'get too soon old and too late smart' . . . nor 'old' too soon.

    Satchel

     Satchel