This past Thursday, I happened to be driving in the afternoon. As I typically do when I’m driving, I tuned into NPR. “Tell Me More” was on, and I caught part of the conversation on President Obama’s proposal to regulate home health care workers.
This is not a political post, nor is it one on home health care. One of the guests was a lady by the name of Nicole Lee, who hired a home care worker for her father after he was diagnosed with lung cancer.
What particularly fascinated me was when Ms. Lee, when talking about her father who passed away at the age of 71, referred to him as a “young man.” She talked about how he was very active, and needed someone who could keep up with him.
And I thought, “That’s incredible, to refer to someone in their 70s as ‘young.’ ”
Over the last few decades, our collective acceptance of what constitutes youth has changed dramatically.
Dr. King was indeed young when he was assassinated, but time was, anyone in their 40s was considered over the hill. Then it became the 50s. Last week, when I told my hair stylist that it was my mother’s birthday, and she was in her early 60s, she gasped and said, “Wow, she’s young!”
But this was the first time I’d heard anyone in their 70s referred to as young.
I think that’s rather marvelous.
“Age is a state of mind.” It’s a cliché, but it’s true. But it’s exciting to me that more and more people are starting to go beyond the “state of mind” premise and refer to youth in terms of absolute age.
It’s why I love meeting people like Martin Waxman, or Kirk Hazlett, or Katie Paine, or Mary Barber. None of them are what you’d call spring chickens, but they are young, even if not obviously so. And I think it’s terrific that they are so devoted to our profession that they make it a point to keep up with new technologies, new advances, and are constantly trying to figure out how to balance “old” and “new” to keep the profession advancing.
Today in the U.S., people will be participating in community service in Dr. King’s memory. And while it’s not an obvious way to do so, ensuring that we in the public relations profession are as accepting of “old” as of “young” is the greatest service we can do to our own community.
Because while sheer youth is a marvelous stage of life, it does not have the wisdom that age brings.
So let’s not regard those who might have a few more grey hairs than the rest of us as fit only to put out to pasture. Quite frankly, they have, and will retain, more youth than many of us can ever aspire to.
![[EVENT]: PR Hacks for Small Biz (online)](https://shonaliburke.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/FB-Ad-1200x800-01-01-01-Copy-500x383.jpeg)
I watched Betty White’s 90th birthday celebration on TV. If ever we think “getting old” means “growing old”, one only needs to take a look at that woman. She is, was and will be forever young. And I plan to be too! Cheers! Kaarina
@KDillabough I LOVE Betty White!
@Shonali If you ever get the chance to see her 90th birthday celebration on TV, it is one of the best tributes, with an amazing cast of people paying honor to this wonderful woman who, at 90, rocks it!
@KDillabough I will. I think it was on the other night but I wasn’t watching TV, just saw some folks talking about it on Facebook. I’ll have to look for it on demand…
@kdillabough @bdorman264 @kmueller62 @frank_strong @hackmanj Thanks all!
@shonali @bdorman264 @kmueller62 @frank_strong @hackmanj You’re welcome:)
In my experience, in professional settings, people who believe that their age (whether young or old) gives them value usually aren’t willing to offer much else. And I use “willing to” intentionally — most of the people I’ve known like that were quite intelligent and could have done wonderful things, but they chose to feed their arrogance and sense of entitlement instead.
So, you know, don’t do that.
@Greg_Landgraf Nice one!
I am honored to be named in this post Shonali and really do understand what you are saying. Young is a mindset and those of us who are no longer young by the numbers do work hard to stay young in our personal and professional lives. The last couple years have seen so much change in our profession it’s incredible, but it has also been a fun time to learn and a challenging time to stay abreast of the change.
It has also been frustrating for two reasons that may seem diametrically opposite. In one group are colleagues (age wise) don’t want to learn new tools while in the other are young professionals who see so little they can learn from us “older folks” and often rudely shun us.
What gets me going every day is the opportunity to learn and share with others in an honest and open framework. Those are the folks I want to support and engage moving forward. They are the ones with the possibility to be like Martin Luther King. It is not a person’s physical age but yet their mental age which is key for me.
@mdbarber I suppose there will always be “those” people either end of the “age spectrum” – those who too set in their ways to change, and those who want to learn only from others like themselves. To me, both groups are shutting the door to such opportunity.
And you’re so welcome, Mary. You really are young!
I am happy to hear someone describe 70 as young. My father was 69 when he passed away in 1996 and at the time I remember thinking he died so young. Age is truly defined by each of us – how we limit (or don’t limit) ourselves based on our age. My mother climbed the Sydney Harbor bridge when she was 80! Talk about someone who has never let age define what she should or should not do!
@Lisa Howarth I’m so sorry for your loss; even though it’s been several years, I’m sure you still miss your father. And your mom – WOW! I want to be her when I grow up!
I have to say when I read @kirkhazlett’s post I was floored when he said he was around when the fax machine went mainstream. Because post was not a “looking back” post, it was a “looking forward” post. That’s youth.
@ShakirahDawud I know! And if you meet him, you’ll see that kirkhazlett is indeed a very “young” person. Just like martin waxman and everyone else I talked about.
@Shonali@ShakirahDawudmartin waxman
Thanks for the compliments, Shakirah and Shonali. As my favorite author, Kahlil Gibran, says in “The Prophet” regarding work and life: “You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth. For to be idle is to become stranger unto the seasons, and to step out of life’s procession, that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite…Work is love made visible.”
@Shonali@ShakirahDawudkirkhazlettmartin waxman How about young at heart… I think it’s all about being curious and open to new ideas and points of view. Thanks for including me, Shonali!!
Age… I think about the perception of age more than I do the physical results of it.
I am 56, but act and conduct myself more around the self perceived age of say 30ish!
I often outwork, outlast, outthink, outgo and generally outstand those half my age?
I perceived this beautiful gift of like as an extraordinary race against effects of settling for less, and accepting mediocrity in myself or anyone else. We all are capable of more, much more. It’s finding the obsessions we can be captured by and moved by that should propel us in all directions.
I have grey hair, I have wrinkles, I have aches and pains: all of them earned and worn without remorse or regret.
But inside my head! that is like a young stream coming from a fresh mountain of life; and I drink heartily and full all of the time from the inspiration and joy it gives me to be alive. Oh! and at a young 56 too.
Billy
@BillyDelaney We are indeed all capable of so much more than we imagine, or think ourselves to be. Earlier today kaarina dillabough and I were talking about a *possible* goal of mine, to run a 5K (tbd as to whether or not I actually do it!). She asked me “why,” and I said because I want to prove that I can (outside of it being great for my health and endurance). I hate running. I’ve never been a runner. But I also don’t want my perception/fear of something that is a basic human function to control me. So I might just start training for that after all… but we’ll see.
@Shonali@BillyDelaney To stretch to the horizons and reach beyond our grasp…to be all and more than we perhaps think we can…to revel in every moment with joy and gratitude…ahhhhhh, life! Got for the possible goal Shonali:)
i agree i feel like i’m 30 in general even while being 44. in 1900 the average life expectancy was 40! now it is 75-77. but this has stopped growing due to our sedentiary lifestyles. my folks are 71 and pop so many pills blood thinners, cholesterol, blood pressure so they dont feel they need to exercise or eat well. my dad mentions obesity as a problem but will never admit he is obese sadly.
so i wonder what if we all ate well, exercised and didnt have the crutch of expensive taxpayer funded pills to make up for bad habits.
same goes to service. i am appalled still at how many people litter. i wonder if we all had national service of some sort for one or two years would we feel more ownership of this country.
love the post shonali. Dr King did a lot of great things. but without the sacrifice of millions supporting him he would of been a mere human. and that is why service is important. we cant do things alone.
@HowieSPM Isn’t it ironic that as life expectancy has increased, our lifestyles themselves are making people “age” faster? Especially after moving to the US, I see far too many people doing what you describe your parents doing, and it still shocks me. If we take care of ourselves and our bodies, we can actually STOP popping those pills… but I know I’m preaching to the converted.
What do they say… no man is an island? So true.
As someone who went grey VERY prematurely….Amen!
@KenMueller My dad went grey at the age of 16 (perhaps precipitated by the extremely premature and untimely demise of his own father). Yet he was, and is, one of the youngest people I know, in many ways. So as far as I’m concerned, grey is great!