Mary Catherine Bateson

Old age is not a subject most of us enjoy dwelling upon. As Groucho Marx remarked, “Age is not a particularly interesting subject. Anyone can get old. All you have to do is live long enough.”

But since May is Older Americans Month, I have been thinking about older people, whether Americans or not. Friends and colleagues in their 70s, 80s, and one who just turned 100, are among those whose company I enjoy the most. Why? Is it because the elderly are wise? Maybe. Though I’ve heard it said that in Africa, especially, age is revered a little bit more and they consider you to have wisdom, even if you don’t.

Photo © Dennis Finnen

Cultural anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson has studied variation between generations, as well as between cultures, and provides some food for thought. Speaking on the value of older people she noted that in the past, elders were few and precious and for this reason they were more valuable. By the time they reached adulthood they knew all they needed to know. Nowadays, if you don’t keep changing you’re obsolete! She observed that although people live longer today, they think shorter. The consciousness-raising groups of the 1960s and 1970s got people thinking about issues in a long-term context, looking back in time as well as forward rather than just from within the confines of their own lifespan. To become wise, we must be willing to learn and to reflect. Learn more from her books and from an interview with the Boston Research Center for the 21st Century.  read more »