Please stop comparing by age alone...

 After 70 or so, there is so much variation by life style as well as genetics and age.  One 85-year-old might still be sharp mentally, physically fit and in good shape (perhaps even working part time!), while another might be ... dead.  The wear-and-tear on our bodies, our drinking/smoking history (or not), our size (obesity as well as height, if extreme, for instance), our family stressors, our financial stressors, and quite simply... the lives we have lived, all account for variation in each individual.

It's not really like comparing 3 year-olds hitting their "milestones", or where people are at at 21, say... (Though I know for a fact, some are physically "mature" at that age, and some bodies are indeed still growing.)

When we evaluate candidates for employment -- as selecting our politicians is the job of all us American citizens -- I hope we are considering "the whole package" and not making snap judgements on age, or size (some people indeed can carry themselves well at larger, and smaller, sizes) or "support systems" (ie/ whether you have immediate family or not.)  Finances can shape our lives as well, and the routines we have established for ourselves.

Consider each job applicant as an individual -- some 85-year-olds, say, might prove better at working 4-hour shifts than those in their 20s, depending on life circumstances.  As an "older woman" who again became certified as a Red Cross-trained lifeguard very recently, I hope human resources departments would not refuse to call me in for an interview if they can calculate from my resume that I'm 55 years of age...

If a person is fit, and up for a part-time job, they should be considered as an individual competitor I would think.  We need to invest in a diverse workforce, and everybody in this country  indeed brings something to the table with their talents, experience and yes, raw physical strength...

Happy Friday, be kind to yourselves and each other, and have a good weekend as we approach our country's Independence Day holiday.  (It's really so much more than shooting off fireworks and staying up late to watch them...) God Bless Us All, even the non-believers in deitys.  We are all in this together afterall, a nation of free individuals in a shared collective -- like it or not! -- from birth to death...