WE ARE PIONEERS

We surely live in a paradoxical time. In history respect for the elders of the community was a central tenet of human societies. The elders were the keepers of the cultures’ knowledge and traditions. But today, at least in this country, respect has faded into tolerance. Our media is partially at fault as we expect older women to act and look young. As the baby boomers have become a force to reckon with, that view is slowly beginning to change. Eventually, aging as we have defined it in the past will no longer be seen as just a time of diminished energy, mental decline, and disability. Many of us will continue to remain active and alert well passed the 50 year mark.

Our families and social institutions will be boggled by a social revolution. I don’t want to overload you with more statistics but listen to this: About every seven seconds, a baby boomer turns 50. Retirement is becoming passé, just another word for career change, 80-year-olds are dating and 90-year-olds are getting college degrees. Thanks to the miracles of medical science, we are experiencing an extension of the human life span. People age 100 or older are surprisingly healthy. We are beginning to see more and more educated, healthy people in our society.

Before the 19th century, most people didn’t age, they died. Just 100 years ago, few reached age 65. Now there are about 35 million Americans who are 65 and older. By 2030, more than 70 million Americans will be over the age of 65. The number of people over 65 has grown tenfold since 1900. The scientists, with their current gene therapies and longevity studies, are predicting a life span beyond the age of 125.

Aging continues to be redefined and we need new words to define it. In my book, The Next Fifty Years, I struggled to find a single word for age 50+ women that wasn’t negative. Authorities on aging describe us as being “young” until we’re 40, “middle-aged” between 40 and 80, and “old” from 80-120. But those terms are broad and we need better ones which embody the spirit of the woman over 50. Some suggest using the crone archetype but when I mention it, many women bristle at the word. “Sounds too much like being a withered witch,” one woman said.

I find the term “wise woman” appealing. Helen Hayes, first lady of the American theater who died in 1993 at the age of 93, thought we should be called “maturians”. For her the word implied there was “still a bit of fight in us”. I like the word “elder”. Some Native Americans use the term “Grandmother Moon” to honor the elderwoman of the tribe. Perhaps we could settle on the term “elderwoman”. Instead of the clinical designation of “post-menopausal”, we might use the term “opal” coined by Frances Lear, publisher of Lear’s Magazine. Opals are “Older People with an Active Lifestyle”. I like the idea of being opalescent---a gem emitting fire! I also like the idea of changing the word “aging” to “evolving”, or as my 78-year-old friend Alma says, “I’m ripening!” I haven’t pinned down one word that fits perfectly yet, and I’m still exploring possibilities.

If the world turns in your favor, you could potentially live out all the hidden aspects of your personality, explore your yearnings to see the world or change the world, express your unused talents, serve others, continue your search for love and knowledge---lots of possibilities lie in wait.

I had my grandmother and my sister Marilyn to look to for inspiration, but I wanted more. I’ve searched for other stories, experiences, and advice written by women that could inform and inspire me as I entered the next fifty years of my life. What I found interesting is that the majority of books written for women on aging contained quotes and literary images from the writings of men. However, a woman’s experience of aging is different than a man’s. In the blog postings that follow you will find heartfelt excerpts, quotes and stories, fun ideas and serious philosophies written by women---women authors and poets and wonderful folks of all kinds that will enrich and inform your aging experience. I hope the results of my personal search will enhance the lives of many of you entering the years of mid-life and “beyond”---that you will be inspired in your eldering and your evolving.

We are pioneers of a new age and we are the foremothers of millions of women. For the sake of our daughters and generations of women still unborn, we have an assignment to make clear our role in society: to inscribe the possibilities of age on the guideposts to the future. What we create in our mature lives will be our gift to them. Join me in blazing a trail, in creating a legacy of wisdom and strength that can be passed on to the next generation of pioneer women in a new world.