Wherever We Are Going, the Trip Is Interesting

Years ago, I interviewed a gerontologist researching demographics of the aging population. He found less and less "herd mentality" as we aged. We became more and more individual, he said.

He said his research still held true about 10 years ago. I am sure persons of certain ethnicities, incomes, professional backgrounds, have some common threads. Apparently we also digress.

I see some of this in younger folks as well. A growing number don't watch television, not even streaming online. Conversely, I know a surprising number of persons in their 30s, 40s or 50s who don't use computers. Many, not all, do watch television.

Millions watch sports. Significantly fewer millions don't watch at all.

Almost everyone has a cell phone. The quick texting makes communications shorter and more succinct. Language is changing because of texting. Even I sometimes get lazy and skip an apostrophe here and there in texting. Not in writing. There's a difference.

I wonder how we are evolving, and where we are going. I wonder if the decade of the 1950s was some anamoly of everyone watching television and seeming to share more attitudes or values. I wonder how alike we have always been, and how different.

I see different manners. Clothing. Behavior. Less value on education, which stuns me. I worry that my grandchildren are being taught to the test, mostly. They aren't being taught how to reason and ruminate. They are given little time to do either. Mine and some others are being taught by their parents, grandparents, teachers here and there, significant adults in their lives.

What I am saying is that the society I see--and I am a longtime, enthusiastic people watcher--is really different. Not worse, not better. I can't judge that. Definitely different.

I still see such a consistency in a desire to help, to be kind. To need to love and be loved. I see a growing tendency towards rudeness and meanness. I can't pinpoint any age or group. I just see it.

I see a tremendously positive response, often, to honesty. I see an amazing tendency to want that honesty so much, people buy into the most incongruous stories.

I shrug. I go on and live my life in the way that gives me a sense of joy, connectedness and self-worth. I do this when I can, as often as I can. I continue to watch the rest of you anytime I find myself in a busy place with time to watch.

You all are vastly fascinating, endlessly entertaining. More often than you would think, you simply touch my heart.

A New Wrinkle in Society

A couple of days ago, I was trying to read the instructions on the back of my voter registration card on how to get a new one with my address change. The print was in six-point. (Newsprint, FYI, is 9-point.)So I pulled out my handy-dandy magnifying glass and proceeded as instructed. I predict that the sale of magnifying glasses will increase steadily over the next few years as the baby bomers age. Because of the price of paper and cardboard, I am less sure that the print will enlarge.

A friend of mine-quadraplegic-was instrmental in the national movement many years ago for wheelchair accessible walks and corbs. The ramped access is also a blessing for persons who have trouble walking up steps or over curbs. That too is going to increase in the population.

Contrast colors on the edges of steps is another change I hope will happen more. As we age, the eyes of many of us fail to discriminate a difference in ground levels in dim light. We see just fine, and we can see the steps in broad daylight. We just can't tell where the next step begins in dim light without some line of demarcation. The ledge stripe makes all the difference. And, of course, hand rails. Many houses built in the past decade or more are perched on a pile of dirt requiring many steps to the front door. I have been known to stagger like a drunken sailor in my climb to the front door. Often, these homes have alley access to the FLAT garage and my
subsequent visits are through the garage.

Hearing is a complicated neurological mechanism (reference, a best seller some years ago entitled "The Man Who Thought His Wife Was A Hat". Again, my hearing seems to be as keen as ever BUT the tuning mechanism, which allows me to focus on a single sound or voice in the midst of much noise, is not as keen.

Walking for any distance, and especially standing for long times, has become really painful. If I have to go to one of the better stores, I get what I came for and leave. And I really have to want it. Contrast this with pain-free shopping at Target or Walmart on an elecctric cart, which often leads to additional purchases. I heard last week the Penney's in my town is preparing to add electric carts, and I'm thrilled. Now if only Foley's and Dillards will follow suit. I don't know what percentage of the population uses this amenity, but with nn aging population, the number will only grow. I don't need my own personal scooter most of the time, which is why I don't have one. But it is great to have the option when it is handy. I know the state fair in my state has rented eclectric carts to fair-goers for years.

I know many other changes and need for them are coming. I have the advantage of being left-handed, which means all my life I have had to figure out how to function in a righthanded world. So I'm sure I am missing some glaring inconveniences for the less athletically inclined of us aging folk, but I apparently have adapted. As we have more older members of the population, though, more conveniences will come along. For instance I already know dozens of persons with knee replacements, and the artifical knees are getting better and better. So we'll see what comes. After all, there's money to be made in this. Sounds good to me.