Age and Ability

Is the sun coming up or going down?

As you must know from my former posts, I have started looking seriously at the age wave, actually a tsunami, that is sweeping our nation and our world. The combined numbers of Boomers, Silents and GI Joe's is staggering. This group is still very much involved in leading the nation. The causes are several fold.

1. There were a lot of people born from 1930-64. They are Blooming right now into the mature adults I call, Seasoned Citizens. Their care, feeding and positive involvement is central to the good life in America.

2. People are living a lot longer now than at any time in history. When Social Security was signed into law in 1935 the average longevity of males was 62 and they could take their pensions at 65. Today, the average length of a Male's life in the USA is 80 so if Franklin Roosevelt were alive and signing a new law for Social Security it would set the age of retirement at 83 or 85.

3. Not only are we living longer, we are living much, much better. We have incredible health care and even older folks are on average less disabled by the arthritis and other diseases that kept people in their fifties and sixties "stove up" in past decades. Thus, we are very active at a much later time of life.

4. Common people are much better educated, trained and experienced in the ways of the world. In WWI and WWII millions of Americans traveled around the world and learned about different cultures and people. It is obvious, despite Lou Dobb's hysterical opinions, that we live in a global village.

5. We are incredibly wealthy in material goods. There are no economic or governmental impediments to wealth, only impediments of personal disabilities. This means that millions of people from lower and middle class backgrounds are wealthier than Solomon in all his glory. Our problem in the West is not poverty of material goods but too much material and a lack of distribution of spiritual goods.

6. Age is an asset not a hindrance to leadership. Age brings wisdom and insight. The spiritual or non-materials aspects of older people are better developed. We are right now experiencing The Fourth Great Awakening and sharing our spiritual values is central to this period.

7. Leisure time has increased dramatically since WWII. This makes finding outlets for non-material/spiritual goods of time, energy and good deeds is critically important.