Now that he has declared his intention to run for a second term, we have been hearing from a lot of people that President Biden is “too old” to run for another term as President. To me this sounds like blatant ageism—discrimination and prejudice against people based on their age. It seems that many of the people (and many, if not most, are my friends and Democrats) shudder when people exhibit racism or sexism, but seem to think that being prejudiced because someone is “old” is okay. It’s not. At least not to me.
Of course, ageism can also work against those whom some think are “too young.” In my eyes, prejudice is prejudice and we all need to carefully check ourselves whenever any prejudice raises its ugly head.
I am 73 years old. We live in a retirement community so I am well acquainted with the “too old” genre. Except it just isn’t true. Even as we age, we age in our own individual ways.
Here is an example. A true story. It snowed. There was enough snow to cover the ground. During that snow there were people in our community who were perfectly content to gaze out the windows with a cup of hot cocoa in their hands and admire the beauty of a winter wonderland. They had no desire to venture outside. But there were also residents here (in their 70’s and 80’s and 90’s) who pulled out their cross-country skis for a romp down the empty streets in our community. Others bundled up and went out to build a snowman. Still others disassembled cardboard boxes into makeshift sleds and headed down the hills with shrieks of joy. Even as we get older we do so as individuals.
I am currently reading an excellent book by Ashton Applewhite This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism. She writes that from childhood on we are overwhelmed with messages that it is sad to be old. This book helps examine the history of ageism, the myths, the stereotypes and yes, some of the truths. She also has a blog, Yo! Is this Ageist? that is worth checking out.
I find it stunning that people obsess over President Biden’s age rather than being joyfully obsessed with the good work he has accomplished in his two years in office. Has it been perfect? No. Has he accomplished every single thing we had hoped. No. Of course, he hasn’t. No President has ever done that. Is it the prejudice of ageism that we think he should have done better?? I tremble violently when I think what our world would be like if Donald Trump had won the election.
I am not going to enumerate the long list of accomplishments under the Biden presidency; I refer you to Heather Cox Richardson’s excellent newsletter Letters from an American where she continuously tries to remind us of all the good President Biden has done and is doing in an extraordinarily short amount of time.
I know that many who are complaining about Biden’s age will still support his candidacy and will certainly not vote for anyone whose intent is to destroy our democracy, but why this constant whining about age?
The MacArthur Foundation did an extensive study on successful aging and discovered that “serious mental decline is not a normal or inevitable part of aging.”
I also believe we have to check ourselves for ageism and ageist comments when we are talking about younger generations. We absolutely need to be nurturing and mentoring and lifting up new leaders. We need to grimace and grimace loudly when we hear comments like, “Well, you know, those millennials don’t really want to work.” Call people out—and ourselves as well—when those ageist remarks are made. We all need to be working towards an “all-age friendly world” as Ashton Applewhite calls it.
Okay, so you may not be a fan of President Biden, but stop blaming it on his age. That is your problem, not his. Because, surprise! We are all aging. We are all getting older. Yet each of us still has a great deal to offer the world and one another.
It is our hard work to stop all prejudice at the door, especially when our own mouth is the door.
Every person I know over age 60 will tell you : “I don’t feel 64; I feel like I did when I was 34!”
I will be 76 in June and I sure don’t feel what that age connotes. We had a President in a wheelchair. We have had Presidents so overweight and out of shape we wonder how they could sit at a conference table and negotiate. We had a President whose only goal in that job was to use it to make money.
In Joe Biden we have a fit, smart, experienced man who would still be a great President even if he was confined to a wheelchair and had to speak with sign language. That’s because Biden knows how Washington works. He knows how to pick honest, smart and experienced men and women to help him do his job. The presidency is not a one-man show and Biden has no interest in making it one.
I agree. Sylvie