Joy of Aging

Posted: September 20, 2024 | Author: David | Filed under: Farming off the Farm, Permaculture & Home Renovation, What is an Art Farm | Tags: cranky uncle, silver tsunami |1 Comment

In my limited experience, there is a joy in aging.  Certainly not the aching joints or onset of arthritis, but in the relaxed confidence, an acceptance of self.  Well beyond the age of peer pressure, I have concern neither about my haircut, nor the shoes that I wear, all of which are quite liberating.  

The cliche of the “Cranky Uncle” is but one example.  At the Thanksgiving table, he lets loose in too blunt a manner which may be simply that he has achieved, at last, a “devil may care” attitude, a sense that time is of the essence. The accuracy of his information tends to be of little concern, to himself at least. The “Cranky Uncle,” in fact, is so ubiquitous that it has become the name of an app that “builds resilience against misinformation.”  https://crankyuncle.com/

If the “Cranky Uncle” is the dark side of anger, then the uplift of mirth was expressed by Jenny Jones, the British poet, in her famous work, “Warning: when I am an old woman I shall wear purple.”  Her poem was twice voted Britain’s best-loved poem, and she was described as “one of Britain’s best loved poets.”  Her words were proof that we can age with grace and wit, a singular independence.  We would do well to follow her lead.  

These thoughts come to mind because the “silver tsunami” has begun with over 10,000 people per day now turning age 65.  By 2030 more than 73 million Baby Boomers will be over age 65, a demographic shift of unparalleled scale.  

I am a Baby Boomer, born at its tail end.  I therefore feel eligible to opine that we have skimmed the cream, and the world we leave to our children’s children, is, I fear, darkened by the shadow of our deeds. 

Early in the Boomer era, an active idealism rose: civil rights, voting rights, environmental protections, the Clean Water Act, a woman’s right to choose, and protests against endless wars of the Empire. 

As a young boy, I went one night to my long-haired neighbors, to help paint cars for a convoy to a Vietnam War/anti-Nixon protest.  I loved it, all of it, the idealism and sense of community (among some but certainly not all).  

By 1980, when the Boomers’ careers had begun the zeitgeist changed; capitalism roared into vogue, taxes were cut, deregulation began.  The success of the Boomers seems unparalleled:

• In 1967 the movie “The Graduate” contained the prophetic line, “Plastics…there is a great future in plastics.”  Fifty-seven years later every person on the planet ingests about 5 grams of microplastic every week  – the equivalent of a credit card – eaten every week, every year by every person, all 8.1 billion of us, with no end in sight.  More than likely, the quantity will increase.  

• In our insatiable quest for red meat, more than 185 million acres of the Amazon River basin have been clear cut since 1978; food production accounts for one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and takes up half of the planet’s habitable surface.  A diet that includes beef has 10 times the climate impact of a plant-based diet.
• The “fast fashion” industry is responsible for over 20% of global water pollution while producing 100 billion garments per year, of which 92 million tons end up in landfills, the equivalent of one semi truck of waste every second, every day.  The average consumer throws away 81.5 pounds of clothes every year.
• The richest one-fifth of the world’s population possess 80 times the income of the poorest one-fifth, and the richest one-fifth uses over 86% of the world’s resources.  In America, the top 0.1% average wealth is $1.52 billion USD per household.
• From 1979 to 2022 wages grew 32.9% for the bottom 90%, 171.7% for the top 1%, and 344.4% for the top 0.1% of the USA population.  
• More than 99 million people now face emergency levels of hunger, while more than 1.1 million people are in the grips of catastrophic hunger.  
• Baby boomers will bequest a total of $72.6 trillion in assets through 2045.

The transfer of assets is defined in financial terms but represents essentially a set of values which will govern how those funds will be used. If we think of $72 trillion as a lever, with values as its fulcrum, then Archimedes comes to mind: “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.”  Change is still possible.  

Another poet wrote “This is the way the world ends/Not with a bang but a whimper.”  We might replace “bang” with “boom” while “whimper” could yet become “win.”  This is a matter of some urgency as the silver tsunami rolls on.  

I am a parent now, raising children coming of age.  My approach here is to be forthright about what we have done and with what they must deal; I value honesty more than politeness, and future generations should be clear sighted, to act with compassion and a commitment to social justice.  A certain non-conformance may be required, and to that end the “Warning” of Jenny Jones, indeed pertains:

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple

With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.

And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves

And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.

I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired

And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells

And run my stick along the public railings

And make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain

And pick flowers in other people’s gardens

And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat

And eat three pounds of sausages at a go

Or only bread and pickle for a week

And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry

And pay our rent and not swear in the street

And set a good example for the children.

We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practise a little now?

So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised

When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

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The thrum of summer has quieted, the Supermoon Full Moon Lunar Eclipse passed on Tuesday, cool nights of autumn descend: Pole beans ripen, Winter squash come to its full, Brussel Sprouts fatten, Poblanos produce still, Tomatoes remain abundant, the Cucumbers are spent, while Tithonia still shouts “look at me!!!” We will plant garlic come November.

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