Being in my early fifties, I think of being an older adult as over about 65. It’s always more than a decade away. But the Older Americans Act calls 60 and over “older.” AARP and the casinos on Fremont Street start at 50. Speaking of AARP they have a lawsuit in the news, an age discrimination claim. They are being accused of passing over a 61 year old employee for promotion based on her age. Now if you’re thinking that’s too old to take up a new job, the other sexagenarian in the news is another 61-year-old woman in Japan who is reportedly the oldest woman in the world to give birth!
So what is the connection? Sixty may be the new 40, but there are parts of our biology that don’t respond to fashion. We have elders work as long as they want to, even when they may lose efficiency, their experience should count for something. I was on a whitewater rafting trip this summer with my family. Our guide on the river was an older man by any definition. He was careful, read the river well, got us through the trip with a sense of adventure but no real damage. There were younger guides working with groups of young adults and teens. I was glad my kids (and me!) were in the hands of someone with decades more time on the water. Experience pays. But the ability of the body to support another life is pretty delicate. Hormone balance, nutrient absorption, blood distribution are all age related. I don’t know how the kid is doing, but I wouldn’t want all my eggs in that basket. The birth mother was a surrogate carrying her daughter’s child. I must say, someone younger may not have been as connected, but would certainly have been safer. This is one of the few safety versus freedom arguments where I will stand on the safety side. It’s not my safety, it is the child’s. And no matter how old we get, I think that is still our most important job.(If we can get it.)