DOES AGE MATTER?
A cranky opinion for
CRANKY OPINION SATURDAY
The following is the opinion of a
cranky old man with little expertise in the subject opined. Opposing views are welcome, but they are
wrong. As always, please, no name
calling…that means you, you big stupid head!
I will turn
70 in a few weeks. I retired 8 years
ago. I sleep a lot, I play a little
golf, bowl from time to time when the league needs a sub, practice guitar, read
and write a little, watch TV, eat, and then sleep a lot. I do not miss work, I
do not want to work; I doubt I am even qualified to be a Wal-Mart greeter.
Donald Trump
will soon be 70. Hillary Clinton will
soon be 69. Bernie Sanders is 74. Ted
Cruz seems like he was born sometime after the Civil War. Why do these people want to be President Of
the United States?
Why do
people who are at an age when their peers grow more and more tired want to take
on the most difficult job in the world.
How are these people who are at an age where others lose stamina,
concentration, and strength, the only candidates for a job that requires more stamina,
strength and concentration than any other job in the world?
Why does
anyone want this job? Why do senior
citizens who have fame, money, and prestige want to suddenly take on the
position of most powerful person in the world?
I don’t guess
I could ever understand the answers to any of these questions. I longed for retirement and am very happy to
do nothing. I do nothing very well. Nothing is what I do best. I do not think I would want to be the most
powerful person in the world. Mind you,
I am glad there are some people who want this job, even if they are older than
dirt.
It just
strikes me that for any other position in this country, persons over 65 would
be ineligible.
An athlete
is over the hill at 40. Policeman and fireman
often retire at age 40 or 45. Most
teachers retire at 50 or 60. Very few
CEO’s of large corporations are over 60, and probably none are chosen for the position
at such an advanced age. Seventy is the
age that social security has the largest pay out. Seventy is the age that you have to start
drawing from your 401K plans.
The
President of the United States is a job that requires a person to be at the top
of their game. No one is at the top of
their game at seventy. I don’t want a
seventy year old drilling my teeth. I don’t
want a seventy year old in the operating room.
Seventy year olds are not leading ladies or men in the acting world, no
one wants to see a seventy year old stripper, and there are very few seventy
year old coaches of major sports teams.
Seventy year
olds have experience, they offer great advise, they have a world of knowledge…they
are not at the top of their game.
I want a
President who is at the top of his game, someone with strength, stamina and
concentration, someone in good health who can be expected to stay in good
health for at least four years.
We currently
only have one such candidate, and he is immensely unlikable.
The preceding was the opinion of a
cranky old man and not necessarily that of management…Mrs. Cranky.
i agree with you on the 'top of their game' thing. and why anyone would want to sit in the oval is beyond my comprehension. thank goodness someone does, still...
ReplyDeleteI too wonder why anyone in their "golden years" would want to be president. All that stress. We see by pictures how the presidents age over their years in office. You start out old, you're going to be OLD by the time your term is done. Maybe they still need that "stroking of their egos" "their purpose" etc.
ReplyDeleteI don't get it.
I'll be working until 66 if I still can, but certainly not in a field as demanding as being president.
Really, the upcoming election scares the "heck" out of me.......
betty
I wonder the same about our politicians and prime ministers. Most of them are so old.
ReplyDeleteI rose to fame (!!!) in my 70s and couldn't wait to get out of it. I told everyone I was tired but that was an understatement. Surely, when the brain starts to die off it's time to call it a day.
ReplyDeleteI could totally be president, but nobody asked me to run, i would prefer to be queen of the entire world anyway.
ReplyDeleteBTW, my late husband often said the same thing about why would anyone want to be president when they could be retired. He was a genuine curmudgeon. I am sure he would have enjoyed your blog.
As people are living longer, there are more who are at the top of their game well into their sixties and seventies. That said, i don't know that any of these people are among them.
ReplyDeleteHi Cranky Man,
ReplyDeleteIn a word - power! That's what they want. That's what they crave.
Simple.
:o)
Cheers
PM
While I agree that we should have more candidates in their 50's and early 60's, I think that many people are perfectly capable of strength and stamina in their 70's. Thank god someone wants this job!
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking about the same thing Cranky! Especially watching how every single president ages so rapidly while in office. I suppose we should pay close attention to who the candidates pick for vice president and hope that they're at the top of their game.
ReplyDeleteLike you I've often wondered why anyone would want this job. One would need a skin thicker than a rhino's to handle all the abuse, and at 70 one would think people wouldn't want the stress and heartache that comes with living in a fishbowl.
ReplyDeleteWell, we sure don't have anything to pick from do we. No we don't.
ReplyDeleteI do retirement well too.
Have a fabulous day. ☺
EGO!!
ReplyDeleteI'm about ten years into my retirement and I have learned that doing nothing is about the best job I've ever had.
ReplyDeleteI can't understand how anyone - be it at age 70 or at age 40 - would want such a stressful job. But I used to work with someone in his 80's who put in long hours (sometimes 70 hours a week) at a job that was physically exhausting. The company finally had to let him go because the insurance company wouldn't have it that this employee was driving a truck. This was almost 10 years ago, and I still have contact with him. He's 90 now and every time we talk, he complains about being "unemployed." At least that gives him enough time to walk six miles a day...
ReplyDeleteTotally agree. Think anyone wanting to be president needs a psych evaluation. A comedian once said that when he was young he was told that in America he had a chance to grow up to be president. Now days, it is the chance kids take.
ReplyDelete...Because they can. If a person is motivated to achieve things (recognition, power, prestige, or the ability to do on a bigger scale what they feel they're good at), then anything that looks like an opportunity will attract them. I have always thought that many people can function at high levels in their 70s and 80s, but I'm beginning to wonder, only because I'm starting to lose my edge. So I will not be running for president.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who is going to retire in 19 days, I CAN'T WAIT TO DO NOTHING! I am, however, willing to tell people how to run the country. Off the record and off the books, of course.
ReplyDeleteMy dad always voted for the youngest candidate in any election. I think he felt the way you do about needing someone at the top of their game.
ReplyDeleteA resounding AMEN from my corner! Why aren't there age limits for this incredibly important position. Though I suspect even knocking ten or twenty years of ange off this crop of fools wouldn't improve their ability to do the job credibly.
ReplyDeleteJosie
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