It's curious to me that in our country someone feels compelled to put a spin on everything including aging. That's a crock, too, Ronni! And anyway how can anyone younger tell elders what they need. What makes them think they have all the answers about being an elder or being older? Dumb........Dee

I don't like 'gifts' for anything I might choose to donate toward. I give the money for it to be put to the use I wanted not to giving back some meaningless trivia and that includes when it's political.

Aptly put. You have said it well. What about music? Music fests, concerts, coffee houses, anywhere the youngsters go we can go and have fun, what were once in our youth we still are in our elder. Take heed to this.

Crabby, you made me laugh out loud with this post! The whole approach, although well-intended, does indeed seem silly, and worse - reinforces the idea that older people are somehow different, but not in a good way.

Damn, Girl! So right.

And let's not forget rock 'n roll, people! :) Many of us were THERE at Woodstock.
I hate this business of being consigned to the elder trash heap of youngsters' perceptions.
Honour indeed. Honour is an action, not an empty word.
I don't see much of it around any more. We need to make our own.
XO
WWW

THANK YOU for addressing this issue so succinctly. We do not suddenly revert to infantile behaviour after reaching a certain age! We continue to take an active interest in all kinds of things, and many of us also continue in paid employment and/or volunteer work.

I would much rather have laws protecting my rights and acknowledgement of my abilities and talents than a card or a pat on the head. I would also appreciate accommodations for those of us who are not able to get around quite so nimbly as we once did.

My 89 year old friend up the street gives me smarter, every day advice than what the media puffs out.

Senior wish list?

Safer, cheaper public transportation, shorter hospital wait times, activities, education corresponding to intellectual capabilities.

and CATS.

We want CATS.

If not CATS,

Give us DOGS.

A Montreal Gazette article talks about seniors remaining on their jobs part time, and that there will be a big need for senior workers, therefore companies should be preparing for this trend.

Really?

Really.

Have you seen any job ads for seniors lately?

Does the Queen break dance?

It's fun to be visiting middle aged people, as I have been recently, and to note how pressured they feel by all the demands made on them and they way the young adults (maybe the most competitive generation ever) keep treading on their heels. It helps me to keep my perspective on this aging stuff.
We, those of us who are really old, have this Depression mentality and are always worried about our economic survival, with good reason. Nonetheless, we should not overlook the tremendous advantage we have of not having to push and shove for everything all the time. That's an aspect of being younger I don't miss at all. If people want to get all worked up about how I'm old or give me silly little prizes for the accomplishment of still being around, I figure that's their problem! They'll be old someday too.
I have really resisted "age appropriate" activities, I have got to say, especially those aimed at old women. But I have taken up ceramics at the Senior Center, as well as gentle yoga.

I hate it when older people are treated like children. In a January New Yorker, the poet Donald Hall writes of visiting the National Gallery of Art. A security guard he and his companion meet there later sees them coming out of the cafeteria:

"...he bends over to address me, wags his finger, smiles a grotesque smile and raises his voice to ask, 'Did we have a nice din-din?'"

Hall was in Washington to receive the National Medal of the Arts.

What is respectful about lumping us all into a ginormous stereotype?

I am attending college, and I know that there are other people in our age group that are students too. I'm not ready to settle down to a life filled with crossword puzzles and I doubt they are either.

If someone is going to "honor elders" doesn't it make sense that they would at least notice our diversity?

Crabby is in especially good form here -- I couldn't agree more.

Anyone working in a professional position to interact with elders should lose their job if they haven't learned to use appropriate language that doesn't talk down in a way that is demeaning to all of us. Learning that communication approach is, or should be, basic 101 in any training program.

I like the comparison to how African American's February "honoring" is conducted. Equally educating and respectful programs would be much more appropriate and appreciated by and for this elder.

"Honored citizen" - barf! barf! is right.

What I also dislike is that most of the Sr. Citizen (as we're still called here, which is second best to the "Honored" thing) senior center programs are in the day time. One of the few night classes I found was a writer's group which I continue to enjoy -- dovetailed well with my taking up blogging, though I'm still the only blogger.
But with the adult education program cutbacks it was cancelled, so we meet in each others homes.