New Seniors

The first ballpoint pen was sold in the United States in late1945. It was called the Reynolds Rocket and sold for about $10 when it was unveiled at Gimbel’s department store in New York City before spreading across the country like wildfire. But the script did not unfold as originally written.

Every creature in this world is doing something, even if it is simply breathing in and out. And, it is safe to say that virtually none of it involves you. Yet, because we are all connected in some way whatever is being done at this moment by others could affect you. This means that whatever you are doing can affect others as well.

The war on words is exploding. To be politically correct and not engage in inflammatory discourse, let’s revise the opening sentence as follows: the discussion surrounding the proper use of sensitivity in our speech and writings, so as to not in any way emotionally injure others, is gaining positive momentum in the public forum. Is this the end of clear, concise and colorful communications as we know it?

Madison Avenue was once inhabited by advertising agencies that bore the names of their founders and top execs. It was a personal business and the clients wanted to do business with those who had a successful track record of producing good work. But along the way the advertising industry changed and so did the names of the agencies.

New Seniors tend to be an optimistic lot. Born during the Great Depression or WWII, we didn’t have everything we wanted but learned from those who went before us that there was an American dream and through hard work and perseverance, we could attain it. Recent studies show that the aging Baby Boomers don’t share the same faith in the future that there older brothers and sisters do.

We are now entering the tenth year of the war in Afghanistan. Yet a decade of fighting hardly gets the news coverage or interests the average Americans as we try to recover from the financial whole we have dug even though the war is a substantial drain on the US Treasury. The toll in American lives is relatively low, but we suffered the most casualties of the ten-year conflict in 2010.

Whose bight idea was it to take football from out in the elements and put it in a domed stadium where the temperature and other climate conditions could be controlled?
There were many attempts to bring the sport inside, starting as early as 1902 when a game was played at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Most folks 65+ think they have a lifestyle that is in step with today’s society. We own a digital camera, have a cell phone and use the computer with some degree of success. This gives us a false feeling of being part of the modern world when in reality we New Seniors may be two steps behind everyone else.

The electorate has spoken and there are indications that at least some folks in Washington are listening to what we have said. Time will tell if the new Congress will act according to the will of the people rather than in their party’s, and ultimately their own, benefit. No matter what the legislators do, government bureaucrats are committed to following an agenda that could regulate the country to death.

Besides welcoming boomers as they turn 65 to the ranks of New Seniors, there are a number of commitments we can make to ourselves, our families and the communities in which we live. It’s already 2011, so we need to take action now.