Last week 75 year old Pennsylvania Senator John Murtha said one of the presidential candidates is about his age and the job of President “is no old man’s job.” John McCain said “speak for yourself, I’m doing fine.” It is like most in-groups, I guess, where it’s ok to insult other members of the group, but other people can’t get away with it.
Living in LA County makes some people a little more aware of differences in culture. There are a million residents of African American ancestry here. In the US, LA County has the largest population of these groups: Urban Native Americans, Filipino, Roma, Mexican, Korean, Iranian, Samoan and Japanese.
There are long term relationships between many cultures that may be positive or may be historically negative. Wars, migrations and trade have melted many a pot before people came to the US. Many times at health fairs, like the one in Temple City Park this weekend, we see older adults who are of Japanese or Chinese ancestry but have lived in Latin America for so long they speak Spanish better than any other tongue. New neighbors cause us to acquire a different view of a culture, sometimes good, such as cooking smells of new spices and sometimes irritating, such as music our ears haven’t learned to appreciate.
Older adults of the generation that lived in the great depression may be more defensive and less open to strangeness than younger seniors. The influx of Asian culture following World War II and the expansion of international business has made later groups more accustomed to new characteristics.
But what about ageism and sexism? What experiences do we need to dismiss the qualifiers of candidates and attend to their qualities? We have an unique choice ahead, will we elect the first African American President? The first female President? The oldest President to enter office? Whatever happens, it will make history!