There’s something dishonest about using the phrase “At my age…” and then launching into a funny story about forgetting my glasses or needing to stretch as soon as I wake up. It’s stolen valor… you know, the bit where someone pretends they were once a brave soldier even though they avoided service. Complaining about “elderly” aches and pains - when I’m clearly healthy and fit - is a bit like that. My funny complaints take away from the real suffering of others who are tormented by painful arthritis or disabled by dementia. I’m sorry and I’ll stop. Pain and disability aren’t funny. I was trying to soften the fact that I am 74 years old and death feels closer than I’d like. But lately I’ve also been wondering why we give up before we give up the ghost? Why are the signs of age our only signs of life? Is retirement that boring?
So, here’s the thing: What do we do with the last 20 years of our lives?
There is no guarantee on time. I should know; my daughter died when she was just 33 years old and at the peak of her magnificence. But for those of us who are given the full length of our lives into old age, how will we use that time to make a positive difference for the young ones who come after us? Can we ease their way? Can we facilitate a peaceful, more equitable world?
I want to call on all elders, the Vietnam War veterans and the protestors, the counter-culture hippies and the once newly-minted hedge fund profiteers… We can do this. We come from an age of possibility, and we have the power to promote the common good for all humans. We can promote from memory the life we knew growing up and improve upon it.
I never thought I would see militarized police here in the US, carrying weapons in public, strong-arming their way through airports, neighborhoods, and public roads, demanding identity papers of private citizens. Our country is sick, but we have the power to make it right.
Our time is nearing its expiration date. What is the sense of accumulating more money and power when we won’t live to enjoy a life of sex, yachts and multiple homes? If this hoarding is supposed to benefit a few of our children, what about the others? Will they take revenge on those who inherit fortunes? That is looking more likely.
No matter how you look at it, both those who are born into poverty and those who are born into wealth will suffer from our inherited corruption of this economic system.
We have about 20 years to make a course correction. Our U.S. constitution is a strong foundation, but the last few years have shown us the cracks in the system. We say we are a nation of laws, but laws must be enforced equally or they are worthless.
We can strengthen our borders without employing criminal gangs to kidnap people who came here wanting a better life. Isn’t that what brought our parents and grandparents here? I remember the slurs against Irish and Italians in my neighborhood. When Kennedy was elected, there was a fear that Catholicism would change our way of life. After a generation, the Catholic Irish, Italian, and Poles were just Americans. Now, it’s Mexicans, Haitians, Somalians, and others who have arrived, some Catholic, some Muslim. Soon, they will all be Americans, too, unless we turn them into enemies. Why would we pull up the ladder behind us? Could we just as easily offer a strong, extended hand? Isn’t that America?
Let’s create a clear path to citizenship. We can close private prisons that thrive on government contracts and perpetuate slavery through forced labor. We can shut down the agencies that reward the kidnapping, beating, incarceration, and death of innocent people, including children, in the name of profit. How did we come to this? We wanted a healthy middle class, and we got the SS. Even with the best of intentions, something went terribly wrong.
Although our self-interest led to tax loopholes and spurious end runs around the laws of the land, we can undo our mistakes. Eliminating income caps on social security will rebuild the system. Establishing income caps on CEOs will even out the growing income disparity and reduce corporate reliance on government services like food stamps to provide fair pay for their workers. That business model is crumbling.
Fair taxation by percentage with no loopholes paid by all, including corporations and ultra wealthy individuals, only makes sense. We can build enough housing and provide health care for all by including all income levels as part of our tax base This includes the self-loan schemes of the wealthy who avoid “income” tax. We cannot rely on a monetary cushion from our ever-dwindling number of middle-income wage earners.
The money spent on war profiteering and AI data centers could easily be channeled into infrastructure and education at every level. A well-educated citizenry can take it from there, and we elders will be off the hook. Eliminating AI data centers will free up our water and electricity to once again serve the people, not end their livelihoods and their lives.
We can do this. We elders have a limited time on this Earth. How do you want to spend it? Sitting in a recliner watching Netflix? Maybe. But if we’re healthy, why not do something useful, something lasting, something for the common good of humanity?
So, here’s the thing: What do we do with the last 20 years of our lives?
There is no guarantee on time. I should know; my daughter died when she was just 33 years old and at the peak of her magnificence. But for those of us who are given the full length of our lives into old age, how will we use that time to make a positive difference for the young ones who come after us? Can we ease their way? Can we facilitate a peaceful, more equitable world?
I want to call on all elders, the Vietnam War veterans and the protestors, the counter-culture hippies and the once newly-minted hedge fund profiteers… We can do this. We come from an age of possibility, and we have the power to promote the common good for all humans. We can promote from memory the life we knew growing up and improve upon it.
I never thought I would see militarized police here in the US, carrying weapons in public, strong-arming their way through airports, neighborhoods, and public roads, demanding identity papers of private citizens. Our country is sick, but we have the power to make it right.
Our time is nearing its expiration date. What is the sense of accumulating more money and power when we won’t live to enjoy a life of sex, yachts and multiple homes? If this hoarding is supposed to benefit a few of our children, what about the others? Will they take revenge on those who inherit fortunes? That is looking more likely.
No matter how you look at it, both those who are born into poverty and those who are born into wealth will suffer from our inherited corruption of this economic system.
We have about 20 years to make a course correction. Our U.S. constitution is a strong foundation, but the last few years have shown us the cracks in the system. We say we are a nation of laws, but laws must be enforced equally or they are worthless.
We can strengthen our borders without employing criminal gangs to kidnap people who came here wanting a better life. Isn’t that what brought our parents and grandparents here? I remember the slurs against Irish and Italians in my neighborhood. When Kennedy was elected, there was a fear that Catholicism would change our way of life. After a generation, the Catholic Irish, Italian, and Poles were just Americans. Now, it’s Mexicans, Haitians, Somalians, and others who have arrived, some Catholic, some Muslim. Soon, they will all be Americans, too, unless we turn them into enemies. Why would we pull up the ladder behind us? Could we just as easily offer a strong, extended hand? Isn’t that America?
Let’s create a clear path to citizenship. We can close private prisons that thrive on government contracts and perpetuate slavery through forced labor. We can shut down the agencies that reward the kidnapping, beating, incarceration, and death of innocent people, including children, in the name of profit. How did we come to this? We wanted a healthy middle class, and we got the SS. Even with the best of intentions, something went terribly wrong.
Although our self-interest led to tax loopholes and spurious end runs around the laws of the land, we can undo our mistakes. Eliminating income caps on social security will rebuild the system. Establishing income caps on CEOs will even out the growing income disparity and reduce corporate reliance on government services like food stamps to provide fair pay for their workers. That business model is crumbling.
Fair taxation by percentage with no loopholes paid by all, including corporations and ultra wealthy individuals, only makes sense. We can build enough housing and provide health care for all by including all income levels as part of our tax base This includes the self-loan schemes of the wealthy who avoid “income” tax. We cannot rely on a monetary cushion from our ever-dwindling number of middle-income wage earners.
The money spent on war profiteering and AI data centers could easily be channeled into infrastructure and education at every level. A well-educated citizenry can take it from there, and we elders will be off the hook. Eliminating AI data centers will free up our water and electricity to once again serve the people, not end their livelihoods and their lives.
We can do this. We elders have a limited time on this Earth. How do you want to spend it? Sitting in a recliner watching Netflix? Maybe. But if we’re healthy, why not do something useful, something lasting, something for the common good of humanity?
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