It’s a little primitive and somewhat disturbing when referred to as a herd in 2020. More so, around a milestone birthday. I turned sixty this year. At the time, it felt no different than turning forty or fifty. I didn’t feel the urge to yell, Get off my lawn! as expected, or behave in a manner synonymous with later years. But that’s before reading anyone sixty or older was in a high-risk category for the Covid-19 virus. Is sixty old?
This revelation could not have come at a worse time. I had to reconsider this whole business of life, and just when I thought I was getting the hang of it. I’d squandered my youth, as one does, and middle age was anchored by responsibility, but the Third Age presents an opportunity for a personal renaissance. It’s where hopes and dreams that fell to the wayside or lay dormant could take center stage once more.
Sixty was the gateway to this fantastic new phase of life, not invitations to early dinner specials, rocking chairs overlooking pristine lawns, or higher susceptibility to new viruses.
I was looking forward to my Third Age with the enthusiasm of a six-year-old unwrapping a gift after graduating First Grade. After all, if one plays by the rules of a demanding society, one should have a reward in this lifetime. Especially after working forty-four years, meeting the boss’s annual review expectations, raising a family, and making banks a little richer by paying off a lifetime mortgage.
Still, it felt endearing in the initial phases when the world seemed concerned about the vulnerable sixty-and-older set. However, before the shelter-in-place directive was over, this sentiment changed to–more resources for us if the old codgers are out of the way.
While most of us were still singing Kumbaya and We’re all in this together–a few of us moved on from debating herd immunity to deliberating the benefits of herd culling. Okay, that’s it! This latter bunch can get off my damn lawn and socially distance their morbidity.
First of all, we’re all committed to self-preservation, regardless of age and condition; second of all, sixty is not old to sixty-year-olds, seventy is not old to seventy-year-olds, and bless her, my mother still thinks she’s a spring chicken in her mid-eighties. She has underlying health conditions and treats prescription medication like candy, but most older people I know are healthy and active.
Even if they aren’t, for one reason or another, and no matter the age, the weaker among us deserve protection, not offered as sacrificial lambs at the altar of scarcity gods.
I’m thankful to the elders and the preceding generations. Issues remain, but we’re living longer and have an opportunity for a healthy and productive Third-Age because they left a kinder, gentler, and better world than the one they inherited. They should be honored instead of made dispensable in some dystopian worldview, especially in one that keeps resurfacing as science and sociological data but harbors a thinly veiled inclination for Social Darwinism.
Brief History
Science fiction from the 20th Century had predicted flying cars by the 21st Century. We have aero-dynamic electric cars, TVs that take up most of the wall, and cellphones that can project wireless images onto them; flying cars or mini spaceships can’t be far off in the future. But, I find myself glancing back at mindsets from the 19th Century.
The biggest takeaway from the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin is that species evolve from other species, and Natural Selection variation promotes survival. That’s all good and well, but the term Natural Selection was then misused by Herbert Spenser to promote his Survival of the Fittest ideology to human beings.
Spenser went beyond the natural and healthy competition between individuals and the marketplace by attributing superiority traits deemed inherent among the successful and the well-placed. His views complimented the Social Darwinism ideology of its time and were dually embraced.
The successful and well-connected individuals in politics, industry, and high society couldn’t be happier with the Survival of the Fittest concepts during the Gilded Age. It allowed them to consolidate further power through Trusts and helped to explain the phenomenal success of the outliers, and justified good breeding, among others.
And that’s all good and well too. We need successful outliers, and they have to be rewarded. But it didn’t stop there. The belief in Social Darwinism and Survival of the Fittest led to Eugenics. Darwin’s half-cousin, Francis Galton, introduced Eugenics to the world as his scientific undertaking.
Money, prestige, and power throughout history have made the humblest among us believe that not only are we the fittest, but we’re also God’s anointed and obliged to oversee creation. A colleague promoted to a supervisor’s role can usually confirm this theory in a short time. So, the views of elite bluebloods from the leisure and ruling class at the height of the Victorian Era are somewhat explanatory.
However, it wasn’t England or Europe but America that initially experimented with Eugenics. With the blessing of the Supreme Court, the new science prompted medical organizations to sterilize people against their will and limit the reproduction of the unfit or undesirable. We might not be our brother’s keeper–but a few take to the role of tormenter far too quickly.
Even if we’re not all endowed with strong and healthy bodies, that doesn’t mean we’re not equally blessed with the consciousness or the spirit that makes us human in the first place. The physical strength and mental acuity decline and degrade at some point. However, the consciousness or spirit does not diminish with age and continues to grow through every phase and experience.
And if we’re born equal in liberty–who amongst us gets to decide otherwise?
Social Darwinism, Survival of the Fittest, and Eugenics allowed us to sidestep our humanity and dismiss it in others. It also made it acceptable to exploit different ethnicities as separate races by skin color and facial features alone.
This belief is still prevalent, even though skin color and facial qualities are superficial compared to our genome’s 99.9 percent overall similarity. Moreover, racial purity or superiority cannot exist if we all descend from Africa in one way or another and through only a few ancestors.
Categorization of race, standards of beauty, and social status in hierarchies are all societal constructs; we all belong to the same human race, even if not blessed with the golden facial ratios that populate marketing billboards. Hence, we may continue to question our humanity as and when needed for unwarranted pride and superficial prejudice. I certainly do. And this is one of those times.
Social Darwinism appeals to the vanity of the ego masquerading as the intellect. It offers the illusion of superiority based on science instead of personal bias that’s more likely to be disregarded or condemned. The assertion of science, on the other hand, means that the argument cannot be ignored or easily dismissed.
The supposed logical and scientific approach toward Social Darwinism, Survival of the Fittest, and Eugenics led to the tragic and illogical conclusion of genocide. The belief in superior traits from favored races ended in the equal destruction of the weak and the strong in two World Wars.
Natural Selection, to simpler minds like mine, means adapting to the continually changing environment or suffering the consequences. Nevertheless, it’s most likely going to be the psychological and not physiological change that we have to contend with in our lifetime. That’s been the case in mine, even though an extra limb would have come in handy during weekend sports, home maintenance projects, or climbing back up a tree we climbed down from.
However, I doubt I would see any physical change even if I lived for 120 years. That’s the outer limits of the human life-cycle–though hardly deep-time for biological evolution. Nevertheless, living through a rough decade is long enough for social variation and political transformation. Two decades can define an entire generation and determine the prevalent ideology of their time. Societal upheavals around the world prove that–if nothing else.
It’s near impossible to live a reasonably good life within any political system without adapting to social or technological updates that demand adherence–lest we fall to the wayside in one way or another. The corporations, communities, and individuals who adapt quickly, efficiently, and willingly to change fare better than those who resist or play catch-up. Disruption and progress will still occur despite our best efforts at avoiding or redefining them.
Youth
A few, in their youthful folly, referred to the pandemic as the Boomer-Doomer. A remnant of my younger self saw the humor, detachment, and having felt immune to aging at one time. The media and the medical officials didn’t help with mixed messaging on the pandemic. The initial reports gave the impression that the virus was only fatal for older people with underlying health concerns. The younger set was deemed resilient and could easily stave off the illness if infected.
The younger generations took this to mean they were exempt from the virus and returned to business-as-usual after the shelter-in-place directive expired. Reassured by their youthful phase, some socialized indoors, large gatherings, and in restricted spaces. The logic was that–even if they weren’t immune–their immune system was strong enough to overcome the virus and build herd immunity–that word again.
In which case, it’s one thing to tyrannize the older generation with news about herd culling, but neither is oppressing the younger generation warranted by imposing unnecessary restrictions on them. Perhaps, youth has its purpose and requires us to be fearless and reckless within every generation. Unfortunately, our behavior hasn’t evolved much in this department, either, at least not since we recorded ancient history in clay tablets and followed that up with the phone apps.
Instead of being careful, the urge to be cavalier is a rite of passage during the First Age and a prime example of youthful folly to which I can attest; it leads to new horizons and is somewhat understandable, if not always acceptable. The essential workers, including young grocery clerks and front-line health staff, remain heroes of the pandemic. Life may have indeed become survival of the fittest without them.
However, what’s unacceptable, beyond understanding, and more disturbing (apart from data models that changed so often they were rendered useless) is the sub-optimal responses by professionals in national and global health institutions once deemed infallible.
And yet, in the end, I also had to accept this as human folly and self-interest within grand structures. However, what I remain unsettled by is the worst revelation.
Ageism
I can see the attraction of medical and technological experimentation toward a super-race to which only one group can belong. I can acknowledge the lure of survivalist ideology and respect the early retirement options offered by corporations–four billion years of evolution and willingness to discriminate against a group we’ll all join in the blink of an eye; I failed to understand.
The scarcity of resources and allocation of reserves among the more deserving comes at the expense of those labeled inferior or a liability. And yet, through all its manifestations, I never imagined that Social Darwinism and Survival of the Fittest theories would resurface and divide us through Ageism.
When did we break apart into ever-smaller units and evolve beyond extended family traits because it was too constraining or no longer served a survival purpose? What happened to the family dynamics and altruistic bonding with grandparents and elders? When did elders stop being guides and mentors to a better life and become impediments to progress?
To confess beliefs is one thing; to live them is another. No one can take a victory lap over another culture or pass judgment on Eastern, Western, Individualistic, or Cooperative societal models that all share traits in the era of globalization. Ageism, in one form or another, is common and shared along cross-cultures.
The pandemic exposed shortfalls and deficiencies in the welfare of the elderly in such Greek Tragedy proportions that it can only bring reckoning and future consequences by having angered the ancient gods. How and when did we become so busy that we started paying businesses listed on the stock exchange to look after our young and old? I wasn’t fully aware of this societal transformation and questioned the rationality.
Unfortunately, this questioning led to a personal realization; it’s easier to point fingers and harder to be mindful of one’s own actions. I live three thousand miles away, but not absolved from my responsibility or time devoted to my mother and family elders.
We lucked out with time during our children’s early years. I worked nights when our boys were toddlers and spent the days with them. It’s the most life-affirming and enriching experience that I treasure above all else. It was also a phase in which we were fortunate to have delegated caregiving to grandparents and siblings.
Decades later, as the boys become men and the circle of life continues, I now contend with another phase that I didn’t know was awaiting–the Fourth Age of my mother. Again, I questioned responsibility to my mother, who, on occasion, now behaves like a stubborn toddler.
My siblings and I struggle with the same emotions as anyone else in the role of caregiver. We were raised in a Muslim household and, like other religions, taught to honor thy parents. We also aspire to another level of provision with an extra layer of guilt if not observed. Along the way, we also learned that heaven is to be found under the mother’s feet.
Our father looked after himself until he passed away a few years ago. Our mother relies upon her children. Each decision on how to meet her needs is an opportunity to serve and give back joyfully or measured against the weight of responsibility, obligation, and duty. Each sibling has learned to savor the joy and carry the weight, the best we can, in our own way.
Task forces will be commissioned to study responses to the elderly during the pandemic for lessons learned. However, it’s said that commissions to study problems are the best way to make them disappear. It gives the abstract impression we addressed the issue without taking concrete actions to prevent similar mistakes.
Whatever the studies find about allocating resources and ethics regarding the elderly, they probably won’t say this was a transformative moment in history and provided a global opportunity to raise awareness of aging and Ageism.
It won’t say that we evolved beyond our planet to explore the universe for a second home, yet back on Earth, we generated anxiety beyond the pandemic when old ideas like Survival of the Fittest resurfaced as new discoveries.
It won’t say that scientific facts throughout time have always competed with opposing conspiracy theories but social media and dubious news channels peddled both as clickbait.
It won’t say which socioeconomic groups could better protect their elderly, but it might say which ethnicities were exposed the most and why, as if the virus cared. So much unites us, but we continue to find new ways and new things to divide us.
It also won’t say that a new and broader conversation has to start on aging–if only by those already in the latter phases. We have an opportunity to live healthy and productive lives well into the Third and Fourth Ages–regardless of ethnicity and socioeconomic status.
A unique experience full of prospects awaits in the Third Age. It’s no longer only a time for big profits for cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and assisted living industries. However, the Third Age renaissance comes with personal responsibility to build and maintain the appropriate amount of health and wealth relevant to our location and lifestyle.
Instead of being accountable for mismanagement, a few herd cullers might have us working longer and delay or deny the Social Security income in the name of scarcity–even though we contributed for a lifetime in a system that guaranteed some semblance of security in later age.
Instead of mutual self-interest and inter-dependence–exploitation and division between the generations await. Hopefully, calm, quantitative, and empathic heads will prevail after the pandemic has retreated into its own history and no longer compared to 1918.
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Masks and the Sunshine State
I was initially confused about the pandemic risk level due to the conflicting news. However, we live near the theme parks in Central Florida, and if Disney closes for a day, let alone indefinitely, one sits up and takes notice. Our family took a step back to assess the risk, and our friends, what few we have, were surprised by our risk-averse decision to limit non-essential indoor activity until we understood better. It was a surreal, bizarre, and uneasy time comparable to no other.
Central Florida isn’t as polluted from industry or vehicle emissions as other states, but as the pace of life slowed down, the days lingered, and the haze lifted, the world seemed anew. The great outdoors appeared sharper with brighter colors and contrast. The long and light green palm tree leaves contrasted with the small and deep green magnolia leaves glistening in the warm spring sunshine. The ducks splashed their wings in the pond, and sunlight reflected through water drops that sparkled like diamonds with multi-color hues.
The high-pitched sounds of hawks that soared in the sky were in sharp contrast to the ravens on the ground, and the red cardinals that flew onto low branches of trees were distinct and vibrant as if heard for the first time. Different bird calls permeated the air and became audible in the foreground after the noise from the cars, trucks, lawnmowers, and general buzz of human activity that previously muted nature sounds receded into the background.
Neighbors whose feet had never touched the pavement before took long walks at sunset while observing a safe distance from each other. I preferred to run after sunset, and when jogging previously, I’d only paid attention to the traffic after stopping at a turn signal. During the shelter-in-place directive, I ran across deserted roads and through multiple traffic signals without stopping once. The streets were deserted, and the air was fresh, but the unease never left, not knowing to what extent the air carried the virus.
By the time we emerged back to an ever-shifting normal, we had a better understanding of the virus and weren’t as anxious. Not unless we went grocery shopping–that is. What used to be a simple weekly chore became a biweekly expedition with new obstacles and paradigms that included waiting in line outside the store while maintaining a six-foot distance from other shoppers. Florida did not issue a mask mandate, but most residents took it upon themselves to wear them. There weren’t too many other options. The grocery stores required masks on their premises to protect staff and shoppers.
As the days and weeks went by and the pandemic news intensified, the masks became a divisive issue with political inferences. Masks would’ve only implied medical inference if institutional health experts knew that you can’t tell 300 million citizens one thing today, another thing tomorrow, and still have them respect your expertise or rationale the following week. The all-important Trust-factor diminished with conflicting advice on the use of masks, and off we went into left field after that and never recovered.
The scientists took a foray into politics and left us high-and-dry at the once undeniable altar of science. This dereliction of duty is more sinful than any religious impiety because science was the one unifying factor that promoted universal agreement. Follow The Science, some said, but I planned to unfollow some scientists.
We are of nature, and so is the virus that follows natural law. However, humans are also subject to the unwritten rules of humankind in their part of the world. We might define life through our own reality prism but act according to expectations in our locale. Most of us live in a shared space and look at others to validate our take on the world. If it weren’t for the masks in public places and pandemic news in the media, I would never have known that the world was on fire yet again, had shifted on its axis once more, and was never to be the same again.
Masks had a practical and multifunctional purpose before the pandemic. However, they now symbolized political opinion during the pandemic and exposed a dual reality rife for further division. Some people used slogans to make fashion or political statements with masks, while others made social and political statements by not wearing one.
I applied Pascal’s wager to the use of masks due to the level of contradiction. Not wearing a mask indoors seemed to be an unnecessary risk when given the fact that I didn’t have the facts. It’s not personal or political but a practical statement and safeguard. Of course, I wouldn’t wear a mask if I owned a farm, with access to fresh milk for my tea and some flour I could turn into my morning toast.
A yacht or an island to ride out the virus would be lovely too. But, alas, that isn’t the case. I also live in a shared space. So, for now, a mask is the cheaper and quicker option for my morning tea and toast. I have to play nice in a public domain sandbox or a Publix grocery store because I don’t have the certainty of taking a chance on anything else. Wearing one reassures most cashiers and clerks on the front line and designated as essential workers. That alone is worth whatever temporary personal, political, or principle sacrificed.
Please do as you wish if you’re fortunate to have a choice, or do as required if masks are less open to personal interpretation in your part of the world.
However, I miss touching, smelling, shaking, and placing fruit back on the shelf if it didn’t pass my rigid selection criteria on past shopping days. Nowadays, I go with a list and feel compelled to buy anything I look at, let alone touch. I can sense judgmental eyes giving me dirty looks for putting something back on the shelf after touching it. I didn’t see anybody trying to smell anything either. The selected item goes directly from the shelf and into the shopping cart.
Still, these are minor inconveniences while moving on with purpose and passion after a long period of uncertainty. Our capacity, condition, or freedom isn’t diminished or determined by others but by ourselves. So, I’m committed to living with few regrets as possible and without impeding upon others’ sense of limited resources, responsibilities, or freedoms, and I get to do that in the great state of Florida.
Florida had low infection rates initially but spiked later on. However, unlike other states, we also have the sunshine and the Fountain of Youth–should we need the occasional dip. This year called for a deep dive to the bottom of the fountain. Youth might be wasted on the young, but age won’t go wasted on this late boomer.
I’ve maintained my health and made it to a stage where experience demands that I no longer be reckless with body, mind, and spirit but nurture them instead as gifts on the journey of becoming wholesome. I have no desire for my teens, twenties, thirties, or forties. I’m excited by the possibilities of my 60s and hope to do the same in the 70s and beyond. I intend to enjoy my Third Age and won’t relinquish it to anyone or anything anytime soon.
Going Forward
In 2019, a heading like Ageism and Culling the Herd in the Era of Covid-19 would have made me listen to What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong until the curiosity to read the article went away–note by perfect note. I didn’t know I would write the heading myself in a moment of discontent with this wonderful world in the spring and summer of 2020.
I’ve always believed, for the most part, that love and goodwill toward humankind are met with likewise empathy. We can’t shake hands and say how do you do right now, but listening to the song offers peace of mind that reading or writing essays like this can take away.
I wish you well, no matter your age, wherever you live, and howsoever you choose to believe in the pandemic facts. My sympathies if you’ve lost a loved one to the virus. I hope you will find your way back to this wonderful world soon. We need you, your perspective, and your goodwill as we continue to move forward on our shared journey–as we evolve and try to get closer to a more perfect union.
Graphics courtesy of Pixabay
Stone Age – https://pixabay.com/photos/stone-age-painting-mural-lascaux-2115390/
Darwinism – https://pixabay.com/users/openclipart-vectors-30363/
Youth on Boardwalk – https://pixabay.com/photos/boardwalk-crowd-of-people-1209671/
Dolls – https://pixabay.com/photos/quarantine-corona-covid-sars-4981014/
Mask – https://pixabay.com/illustrations/mask-corona-poultice-respirator-5217184/
Nature – https://pixabay.com/photos/dolomites-val-gardena-nature-2580866/