Some things just get better as they age, get older, rack up the
years, and go gray. A vintage bottle of
wine. A classic or classical song or composition,
the Beatles 1970 "Let It Be", Beethoven's 1824 Ninth Symphony. Take a
walk around Boston with its aged architectural
and institutional wonders like the Old
North Church
(295 years old), or Harvard University (founded 1636) or the James Blake House in
Dorchester (circa 1661) and we are reminded
that good things last.
There is a power and a dependability to certain things
staying, remaining steady and stable. Things come and go but the best lives on.
Age is a gift sometimes. It can produce great human wisdom. For investing there
may be no better sage than 87 year old "Oracle of Omaha" Warren Buffet, who was already a
millionaire while I was still stuffing pennies into a piggy bank. Supreme Court
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is no spring chicken but at the ripe age of 85 she
is wise and witty and smart: a legal mind for the ages, still lifting weights
at the gym while younger colleagues huff and puff.
But sometimes things and people and institutions decline
with age, become sclerotic, rigid, unresponsive, unwilling, unable to adapt to
a new world. There's a restaurant I loved as a kid that forty years ago was the place to go for a great meal. Now when
I go there I see faded carpet curled up at the edges, peeling wallpaper and a
menu better suited to 1958. I expect it will
close soon. Ride a Red Line subway car on the T and chances are it's up to
fifty years old, creaking and clanking its way down arthritic tracks. Or consider the current state and age of our
national political leadership. Lots and lots of gray hairs and dyed hairs and
comb-over hairstyles in this bunch.
The President clocks in at 72. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is 78.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell is 76.
The retiring list goes on: Hillary Clinton soldiers on at 70, while wild
and white haired Bernie Sanders whips up kids his grandchildren's age at the
grand old mark of 76. Massachusetts is no younger. Senators Elizabeth Warren (69) and Ed Markey
(72) bypassed AARP years ago. Democrats are so desperate for a decent
Presidential candidate that they continue to pine for 75 year old Joe Biden.
Which makes me wonder: is the current dysfunctional,
gridlocked, hard headed and hard hearted state of politics in Washington D.C. caused
by the scleroticism of old ideologies and old ideologues? Heck at 57, I'm a kid
compared to the generation we still entrust to lead our stumbling republic.
There have been times when America
turned with confidence and hope to the young to lead us. John F. Kennedy
captured the Oval office at 43; Barack Obama did so at 47. But lately we seem to continually vote for
folks who stay and stay and stay, folks I just wish would spend more time
golfing and playing bridge and less time ineffectually tackling our 2018
problems with 1968 ideas.
I'm not anti senior. At the church I serve some of the most
generous and committed leaders I am blessed to work with may be old of body but
they are young of heart and spirit. This past weekend I rode one day and 85
miles in the Pan Mass Challenge bike ride while a teammate, more than twenty
years my senior, went on the next day to ride an additional 84 miles! I
know many "old" folks who are young and I know many youngsters who are
much too old before their time. My faith tradition is more than 2,000 years old
but it was founded by a 33 year old whippersnapper. Age is more about attitude
than any numerical marker if, and when, we think young, we live young, and we continually
grow: spiritually, emotionally and intellectually.
So what worries and frustrates are the aging politicians on
both sides of the aisle who are more interested in a return to the "good
old days" (that never really existed) rather the future, the real place we
are all headed. We have too many aging politicians who think it is still the 1960's
and that if you just march and sing nostalgic protest songs, everything will
change. We have too many of the younger generation fleeing politics. I am not the
biggest fan of 48 year old outgoing Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, but his
departure, after getting caught up in the blood sport of the current
administration, begs the question: just who will step up?
The best actors always know when it is time to "exit,
stage right". The humblest folks know when it is time to step aside and invite
new leadership to lead the cause. The tired and well worn know when it is time
to give it a rest and retire with gratitude. When I get to that point, I pray I
will know when it is time to go.
It is time for a new generation to lead us. Anybody up for a
game of bridge?
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