Life
begins at sixty, in the USA, circa 2000
by
ted cordova
In
the United States, precisely the Superpower better known -ironically
through its own Media-, for hosting and promoting juvenile violence
and randsome liberties, the ones that today control the strings
of power and are really working for the future, are the oldies.
Matt
Lauer, a comprehensive and clever journalist from NBC, pointed
recently -feb,2000-: While in some countries people between fifties
and sixties are preparing to begin the last stage of life, in
USA, many beetween 50 & 60 are preparing for a new beginning.
I am one of those. But I had to come here to realize that perspective.
At a very bad moment of my life and trying to show grace under
heavy pressure or.. just at the edge of throwing the towel.
The
Country that has produced and projected the fad of the weirdest
and dubious icons for the juveniles of the entire World, from
Mickey Mouse, to Marlon Brando, to James Dean, is now the paradise
for third aging people. It is something that even many U.S citizens
don't realize. At this times, year 2000 things are a little different..
there are no new juvenile icons to worship. A Michael Jackson
is a dubious swinging androgynous thing compared to the brandos,
the deans of a relatively recent past. The traditional arrogance
of younger people that do not accept the participation of the
Third Age in all the winkle tinkle or razzle dazzle of life, is
over. Now Oldies are in command of all that is vital for our times.
Well,
and that happens now-year 2000 in this United States that comprises
all the whims and amok lberties of an unleashed and prepotent
youth. Besides,as it is evident, those who pretend to be, in this
ages, the cleverest among pairs, are always the ones more easily
deceived. In this empire of a defiant youth, there is, instead,
a permanent search for a better future seeking for a life, a revolution
under the leaderdship of the the Oldies.
Whether
it is in economy, politics or every branch of the arts and culture,the
prominent personaliities leading are in their fifties o or more.
From cybernetics to the space exploration, they control the human
adventure of these times, which is getting ready to face the Third
Millernium. A series of artIcles published by The New York Times
Sunday Magazine in 1998, convinced me that the people who run
this unmatched Superpower, the greatest civilization of the second
Millenium, are in their sixties or more. In all levels of life
the strings of power are controlled by people near to their sixties.
The
so called "baby boomers", it is, those born between 1946 and 64,
when the victorious soldiers returned from World War II, are elsewhere
running the Country. Zillions of sperms that irrirgated the vagines
of the dynamic and beautiful American women of the forties and
fifties whose prototypes were Ava Gardner, Debbie Reynolds or
Marylin Monroe. And it became the most prolific plan of population
growth with the best human crop of all times. baby boomers -/Bill
Clinton, georgeW.Bush, Al Gore and John McCain are some of them-,
are in command of a Society living with the most advanced technology
of great confort and an ambition planning the colonization of
planet Mars.
The
overwhelming advertisement inviting to a never ending consumism
is mainly directed to theThird Age. Furthermore, with high-tech
medicinal ways researching for new means of prolonging life have
been developed in the 90s life expectancy was over 77. Prolonging
life is part of daily consumism. By year 2005 life expectancy
will be in an average of over 85 years. The paradox is that this
Country with a slanted youth and an an intelligent but very stressed
Third Age has been called by destiny to lead a Humanity submerged
in the fears and uncertainities of the end of the Millenium..
I
came to this Country seeking for rehab treatment for a paralysis
in the left side of my body after a massive brain stroke. I was
lucky to be alive. But I am also lucky to live in the U.S. at
this time, when people of my Age (63) instead of being an obsolete
or expendable burden getting ready for the charity or retirement,
like in most Latinamerican countries, are respected as a work
force or at least given an opportunity.
At
least there is chance for a rehabilitation. It truly is the best
of the times or the moment to fight for a better future and, obviously,
the access to a better life. Physical rehab is just one part,
the most painful of all the process. One also needs healing in
psychological and spiritual levels. That is possible today in
a truly open society like the American. At a moment and at an
age, the most painful for somebody in my handicaped condition.
But I was encuraged to see that people perhaps older than me were
accomplishing some feats in their third age, like actor Tony Randall,
who became a daddy at 77 and can still be a daddy again , and
a former astronaut over his 70s, John Glenn, who went up away
in yet another space light; or a former president, also in his
70s, who dares to a parachute jump, just for the fun of it. And
yeah, when people in their sixties are not only respected but
recognized as a leadership, creative and still procreating. It
is a sort of new enlightment, and many Americans don't realize
it.
So
in the United States, at a time of real motivation for people
of my age and I am writing from my wheel chair, typing on with
my right hand. It has been possible to choose to start a new life
against all odds, with my wife Mary and our two kids, Isvar and
Fiona. This series of articles is one of the first thrilling products
of my new life, starting at sixty. For me, I can say, after four
months of coma and the difficuties in my underdeveloped country
full of treason and midunderstanding. And, suddenly, it is life
again at 64! thank God!
