The Inevitable Process

What happens as we get older.

The process includes a decrease in muscle strength. Increased aches and pains. Sometimes it includes dementia and reduce mind capacity. As we get older our peers and friends pass away.

I don’t want to be a nobody spouting negativity, but getting old sucks. Our society does not value experience, it values currency. Yes money, but also in today’s ever changing world, knowledge of technology.

The use of computers is everywhere. Mobile phones are more powerful, then the largest computers of the 60’s. While a mobile phone is held in the palm of your hand, the computers of the 60’s required a cooled room. A lot of this change is a direct result of the technology needed to put man onto the moon.

Our generation. The Baby Boomers and our parents.

Accomplished some great things. We put man on the moon. Our appliances are more energy efficient. Cars pollute less. Power plants are more efficient but still need cleaner solutions. There is a lot left to do.

We also left a warming environment which threatens sea level rise which will flood many low lying areas. The same science which gave us all the advances is questioned when predicting global warming. Why?

Because of the economy. The economy has made many of us wealthy beyond our dreams. Greed helps us turn a blind eye to further change which might improve the status quo. It is easy for those with enough to preach the status quo or to push back against change. It is more difficult to look at the world and dream of it being better yet.

For some seniors, it is hard to work with today’s technology.

The old saying is you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. If you have been around us seniors. You know how difficult working with tablets and smart phones can be for us. We were not brought up with a touch screen. We learned typing on an old mechanical typewriter. Life has changed dramatically and some of us just were unable to keep up.

This means that working a new electronic washing machine must be learned. It is frustration when a product you have used most your life now comes with an instruction manual which doesn’t make sense. Every new product obtain needs time to learn it’s increasing functionality.

In this age of coronavirus, growing old is different. Old people are all in an at risk group. Senior facilities through out the country have gone to extreme measures to keep the virus out. It has been difficult to keep in touch with more mobile friends and family. In the best of times special trips to senior centers are needed to keep in touch.

Seniors have much to teach the younger generations.

Some newer things are not necessarily better. Knowing how to work with one’s hands is a skill which breeds quality. Newer cheaper disposable items also create waste. In the paste we created much toxic waste. Yes, it created a good economy, but it also created problems.

These problems we have left for the younger generations. We did the easy part. The difficult questions requiring answers if left. We can provide insight, but it is up to future generations to have strength we were unable to muster.

I wish you luck.

I’ll be here for a while to provide my insight.