Dec 18, 2021 4 min read

Notice: Undefined offset: 0 in /usr/web/cs-washington.ogdennews.com/wp-content/themes/News_Core_2023_WashCluster/includes/single/strategically_placed_photos_article.php on line 412

Notice: Trying to get property 'term_id' of non-object in /usr/web/cs-washington.ogdennews.com/wp-content/themes/News_Core_2023_WashCluster/includes/single/strategically_placed_photos_article.php on line 412

“Unfortunately as you gain experience you lose innocence.” - Irish Golfer Padriag Harrington

“You know what the only way to stop aging is? Dying.” - Paulina Porizkova, Super Model/Philosopher

It is inescapable that our culture punctuates the chronology of our being by marking milestone birthdays. Bar mitzvah is the demarcation between childhood and manhood. At 16 you can drive, 18 you can vote, 21 you can legally drink and at 35, “you’re not a kid anymore’.” At each of these mileposts I’ve pondered if there was a time, before the arrival of tchotchkes such as black balloons and “geezer pills,” that humans just aged without assigning stigmas to the passing years or has it always been this way? Did Queen Victoria embarrassingly sit on a whoopee cushion during a surprise party at Windsor Castle?

These reflections have come to me as my generation marks our sixth decade on this planet and turning 60 has a feeling that no significant birthday has in the past. Ours has been a journey fraught with rebellion, political upheaval and some of the worst fashion choices in human history.

Born at the dawn of the New Frontier I have only the gauziest memory of the death of the young president, and like all memories of such a young age, I can never be certain that it’s a true recollection or that I’ve made it so through the repetitive telling of the story. Kennedy’s assassination, which brought the “end of innocence” to America, birthed a generation of innocents who are now queuing up for senior discounts at Sizzler.

Just shy of two decades ago I penned an article about entering middle age in which I dubbed myself the voice of my generation – a position I gained by default since nobody else wanted to be and now it’s fallen to me to give the perspective of the brink of old age.

We spent a blissful childhood rooted in the old ways of neighborhood schools, familial communities and imaginations fueled by Saturday matinees. We were aware of but unaffected by the war in Vietnam, race riots, hippies and social unrest. That world was becoming unrecognizable to our parents, the spawn of World War II and the depression, the way our current life is becoming unrecognizable to my generation.

Our generation boogied through the Disco ’70s and entered early adulthood during the Cocaine ’80s. We spent the ’90s building careers and families and faced the early part of middle age much as our infancy was – in turmoil. Post millennium, post 9/11 changing everything up to today.

We have done our best, as every generation does, to navigate an always changing world and remain relevant in an era of uber technology and media platforms designed to make you feel alien if you can get through the day without having an unexpressed thought. And we try to remain philosophical about aging. Is it more perception than chronological reality? Mick Jagger is 78 years old, his girlfriend is 34 and they share a 5-year-old son. Is Mick an old man? Apparently not in his world.

There’s always been the notion that with age comes wisdom. I’ve certainly gained a deep understanding of human nature and why there exists so many abusive adjectives for people who behave poorly. But I wouldn’t call myself enlightened. Hell, I still don’t know the difference between whole and term life insurance.

There is a certain level of comfort to be found at this stage of life when ambition slows and there’s a genuine indifference to the way the world and others perceive you. So much of early life is preoccupied with making an impression on others and getting ahead that it feels so good just letting go of the struggle.

I miss my youth. I miss my hair. Most of all, however, I miss the optimism that only youth knows. The belief that through hard work and idealism you can change the world. That good triumphs and the guilty are always punished. That’s the wonder of being young. Believing that the world is not inertia and things can and do change for the better. For those in my generation we now know better. Unless of course you’re Mick Jagger.

Joe Manning is director of accounts and finance for the city of Washington.