{"id":12063,"date":"2024-03-16T07:00:16","date_gmt":"2024-03-16T07:00:16","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"My-Turn-Every-age-has-value-to-offer-NH-54280062\/","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/?p=12063","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: Valuable gifts to offer at every age"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\u201cWhether<\/a>
\u201cWhether the candidate is running for local office or U.S. president, we want to see resumes that reflect a history of thoughtful, successful, principled leadership,\u201d writes Lewandowski.<\/figcaption><\/figure>

\n Jean Lewandowski is a retired special needs teacher. She lives in Nashua. <\/em> <\/p>\n

Several years ago, we and another couple saw Bohemian Rhapsody in a theater. On the way out, we heard a group of high school aged \u201ckids\u201d talking about how amazing it would have been to be alive back then to see Queen perform. Our friend said, \u201cWe were, and we loved them.\u201d They gazed at us, star-struck, and one of them breathed, \u201cWow! You\u2019re so lucky!!\u201d It had taken almost seven decades, but we had finally become cool. This encounter was a delightful reminder that when we put aside assumptions and stereotypes about age and engage with others around shared experiences and common concerns, we discover powerful connections.<\/p>\n

This kind of awareness and engagement is especially important this election year, when it appears increasingly likely that the two major-party presidential candidates will be men in their late 70s and early 80s. There\u2019s much commentary about being \u201ctoo old,\u201d and the media are flooded with ageist comments and images. We can take a few jokes at our expense (yes, dinner time has gotten earlier), but when it comes to opinions about someone\u2019s fitness for public office based on the dreaded \u201csigns of aging,\u201d we need to get serious.<\/p>\n

Last month, the National Center to Reframe Aging, in collaboration with 10 other advocacy groups and Frameworks Institute, gave an online workshop titled \u201cAddressing Ageism in Election Media Coverage.\u201d The guidelines they presented are based on research about the aging process, common attitudes, and successful communication strategies. They fall into two broad and overlapping categories: raising awareness and changing the narrative.<\/p>\n

Awareness means recognizing common stereotypes that are dismissive or demeaning. Kathleen Berger wrote in her book, \u201cInvitation to the Life Span,\u201d that ageism is even more resistant to change than other stereotypes because popular culture has long reinforced the idea that youthfulness, or at least appearing youthful, is superior in every way to being older. The idea is so ingrained that when children use negative language about an older person, adults often don\u2019t correct them, and those negative ideas become accepted beliefs for yet another generation. It\u2019s up to us then to become aware of our own unconscious biases so we recognize them when we encounter them in the media and in conversation.<\/p>\n

Frameworks recommend that when we do see harmful stereotypes, we resist the temptation to try to refute them. It\u2019s much more effective to state what we know to be true: aging is a dynamic process common to every person lucky enough to get older. Each stage brings abilities, insights, and knowledge sets that are especially valuable when it\u2019s time to make big decisions affecting millions of people across all demographics.<\/p>\n

Those whose frame of reference is only the 21st century, for instance, have had entirely different experiences from Boomers. We also have different yet compatible cognitive strengths. \u201cYoungers,\u201d a term author Ashton Applewhite suggests in her book, \u201cThis Chair Rocks,\u201d have a command of the digital and virtual world and what\u2019s known in neuroscience as \u201cfluid intelligence,\u201d the ability to reason and react quickly. \u201cOlders\u201d have increased \u201ccrystallized intelligence,\u201d the ability to use accumulated knowledge and experience to understand networks of associations.<\/p>\n

As voters, we\u2019re like the board of directors interviewing applicants, so it\u2019s important to be clear about the job description. We\u2019re not hiring stunt doubles, fighter pilots, or Jeopardy contestants. While physical and mental agility are never bad things, it\u2019s essential to prioritize them properly so we don\u2019t get caught up in stereotypical thinking about age and \u201cfitness.\u201d Whether the candidate is running for local office or U.S. president, we want to see resumes that reflect a history of thoughtful, successful, principled leadership.<\/p>\n

In interviews, candidates should have a solid grasp of what the office requires and clearly articulated answers to important questions: What are your priorities? What is your position on a variety of policy issues? What are your strategies for getting things accomplished? <\/p>\n

For the presidential race, it\u2019s especially important to remember that the executive branch isn\u2019t a single person; it\u2019s a team of cabinet members and advisors. Ideally, they should be like Doris Kearns Goodwin\u2019s description of President Abraham Lincoln\u2019s cabinet in her book \u201cTeam of Rivals.\u201d They were master communicators representing diverse points of view, arguing passionately, and coming to a consensus for the common good.<\/p>\n

Finally, we must keep reminding ourselves and others that we are all in this together, we need one another, and at every age, we have valuable gifts to offer.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jean Lewandowski is a retired special needs teacher. She lives in Nashua. Several years ago, we and another couple saw Bohemian Rhapsody in a theater. On the way out, we heard a group of high school aged \u201ckids\u201d talking about how amazing it would have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":257,"featured_media":12064,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,508],"tags":[263,505],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[583],"class_list":["post-12063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-top-headlines-cm","tag-opinion","tag-paywall","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/43166386-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/257"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12063"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12065,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12063\/revisions\/12065"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12063"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fnewspack_spnsrs_tax&post=12063"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=12063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}