Age should be celebrated, even in politics

The old saw, “age is only a number,” is proving more and more correct. Our presidential election is rife with cautions about the candidates being the oldest in history.

No one points out that this is a natural consequence of humans living longer and stronger than ever before as rates drop for leading causes of death and medical care leaps forward. Social Security statistics chart a 65-year-old woman in 2015 as having a life expectancy of 86.6 years. Sixty-five year-old males are predicted to live to 76.4. One in four 65 year-olds will live past 90 — one in 10 past 95. Let’s compare that to someone born in 1900. Life expectancy was 47.3 years — 46.5 years less than we enjoy today. So older candidates are a natural and welcome consequence of longer life so we shouldn’t be waiting for the other shoe to drop because of their age.

What’s more, olders stand at the leading edge of human development. Like Moses’ spies sent to explore the Promised Land of Canaan, olders are pioneers living longer by half than those born a century ago. Our extra years offer the opportunity to lead the way, not to be taken care of, infantilized or marginalized. We don’t need others to make decisions for us or put us on the shelf along with our dreams of a world made better because we are here. What we do with the added years that human evolution has granted is crucial to gain a perspective on long years of experience. Age is not a hazard. It is something to be achieved, not degraded. Used wisely, it brings wisdom and gravitas.

The question is will our presidential candidates focus the knowledge and insight of their years to bring about a better world for all of us, or are they too self-absorbed to lead us into a new age?

Can they speak out for a future of understanding? Can they set an example by demonstrating values that will help pave the road to peace? Can they help our kids walk that road together in spite of their differences? Can they guide us forward to a wider vision for mankind focused on supporting one another so that the lines between ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ fade and disappear? Can they think ahead to a time when human survival is based on connection to one another near or far, without regard for origin, religion or color? Can they help us march toward the future, not shrink into the past? The safety we long for by going backward is an illusion. The security we seek lies in all of us co-creating a prosperous world for every generation.

Have we lost our vision of what peace and prosperity can look like? Will we remain stuck in longing for security and foregoing risk and adventure? Or remain focused only on the present, refusing to recognize the opportunities waiting for us — stuck in the here and now without growth or vision?

We have a choice ... to look backward or to move ahead. We can choose a world of understanding and collaboration. Olders bring the currency of wisdom, experience and creativity to the table. Youngers bring intelligence, courage and vision.

Our legacy is to lead the way toward the future, not resist it, to respond to each other’s problems, fears and challenges by pointing the way to the far shore together.

But, if we end our lives living in fear, we’ll fail to make our contribution. If we spend our time living in idealized memories of the past and rebel against moving forward, we’ll betray our legacy.

Olders are a powerful political force today. We have the power of numbers and experience. Let’s vote for the future, not the past. Let’s not squander our precious time and experience regretting that we no longer live in the 1950s.

It is time for all of us become mentors and collaborators.

It is time to stand together in our power.

Ina Albert lives in Whitefish.