Your editor's confession

 Sam Smith – ­­­Your editor confesses that he is 86 years old. It is clear from what he has been reading in the media that many feel because of this age he is no longer qualified to be president and he suspects that this rule is also applied to other activities such as journalism. The typical retirement age in this country is 61 which means your editor has been engaging in work activities 25 years more than the figures say he should.

In fact, what I’ve come to think is that our doctors and scientists have done an excellent job extending our life expectancy but that our other professionals – such as economists, educators, bureaucrats and journalists – have done a lousy job of figuring out something useful for this aging population to do. In short our major achievement in reaching this new age expectancy is increasing irrelevance. Thanks to my longtime disrespect as an alternative journalist for dominant values, I have happily continued my work. I don’t have to watch TV eight hours a day. But my fellow aged friends aren’t as lucky.

One reason is that even if older Americans are not retired, their culture is largely ignored. For example, I have for a number of years kept track of good friends, relatives and fellow workers who have passed away. My current number is 218. I have read nothing about this phenomenon shared with others although it has clearly changed my life.

In fact, older Americas are growing substantially in numbers. My suggestion is that we recognize this expansion of seniors in our lives and treat it not as a soon to be gone problem but as another culture worth paying considerably more attention to,

To help, here are some facts about older Americans you may not know but are useful for giving them more than a fading factor in our lives. Many these come from the National Council on Aging but several other sources as well:

·       There were 55.7 million adults age 65+ living in the U.S. in 2020. This included 30.8 million women and 24.8 million men.

·       America’s older population has grown by 38% since 2010, compared to an increase of 2% for the under-65 population.

·       Maine, Florida, West Virginia, and Vermont had the highest percentage of populations age 65+ in 2020.

·       There were 104,819 people age 100 and older in 2020—more than triple the number in 1980.

·       Among adults age 65+ in 2021, 60% lived with their spouse or partner, while roughly 27% lived alone.

·       In 2022 17% of Americans were 65 or older while 19% were between 5 and 19. The figure for seniors is up 70% from 1974.

PRB: Many mature adults continue to work well into retirement, whether it's out of financial necessity or personal preference. Working for longer can help older people stay physically active and mentally sharp while maintaining important social connections. Employers stand to benefit from an older workforce as well. Seasoned workers bring knowledge, experience, and reliability that can’t always be matched by their younger counterparts.

Family caregivers play a large role in the care of older adults, with many of them also juggling a job, children, and other responsibilities. In 2017-2018, 40.4 million family caregivers provided unpaid care to a family or non-family member age 65+. While 39% of family caregivers cared for someone age 85 or older, 13% cared for someone age 65 to 69.