Coming from the Aging in America conference in Las Vegas last month, I am again struck by the good news and other news about how life progresses. The word ‘aging’ is one with mixed meaning: to age may mean become richer, more seasoned, and certainly better over time (such as in wine, in wood, in personhood…). However, in the current western way of looking at it, longevity has a point of diminishing return: we climb the mountain only to have to go down the mountain… We are an ageist culture, valuing youth over age, valuing new over old, valuing innovation over experience. We are also out of balance with ourselves and, as many of have seen, are doomed to repeat a sordid past if we do not balance innovation with knowledge.

I would say to anyone who looks back over history, that we are the first to live this long, to celebrate good health longer and, to create a whole economy around this new stage of life that was never lived before.

At the Aging in American conference last month, I heard Debbie Reynolds speak, saw her dance and sing, heard her stories of youth and marriage(s), declare that aging with only about one word: perseverance. She was beautiful and articulate. She almost fainted…she had had pneumonia only a month earlier. But, she did not. She just said, “Things like that happen.” We all laughed at ourselves, with Debbie, in her descriptions of how life plays out as an older person.

The new issue for me is age related hearing impairment…it is pandemic, it is isolating, it is a major quality-of-life impairment. Yet, even at this amazing conference, there was a certain level of denial about how pervasive the issue is. This is the second conference dealing with aging where I have presented on this specific issue. I feel like I have to build a case for dealing with it each time. The continuing level of shame and embarrassment around wearing a hearing aid and the unwillingness to invest in the technology that can remedy (to a high degree) the challenges remains the great barrier. Remember, we dealt with the presbyopia…loss of nearsighted-ness…with line-free transitional glasses, hiding the obvious. Even if we spend a few thousand dollars on in-ear hearing aids, complete with remote control, this hiding has not really made the grade in how nursing homes, long-term care organizations manage a population whom collectively and individually cannot respond appropriately because they cannot hear. Certainly a topic for another blog…one that will arise over and over.

On my end, I am not waiting until I am old to do anything, nor do I think I will want to do everything when I am old. When I am old, I will wear not only purple…but also, hopefully, will wear my experience and wisdom in ways I could not possibly wear them now. Yes, I will always avoid the persistent graying of my hair; I am starting a separate hearing-aid acct for Dallas and I so we can get the best; I will always wear makeup; I will always want to engage in the present and put the past in perspective. But, most importantly, I will seek to be treated for who I am in the moment, rather than the numerical measure of my age.