Hola amigos y amigas! Are old people invisible?

Lots of stuff on my mind. One thought, feeling, intuition, that comes to mind goes something like this: You know how we often, insensitively, call homeless people "the homeless"?  Well, I don't yet know whether it is good or bad, but "old people" or "retired folks" feels like a similar grouping. Looking at homeless people as "the homeless" gives us an out from real engagement. They are not Louisa or Mark. If they were, we would have to greet them, hear their stories, be involved, however fleetingly. As an aging woman, I have been feeling that my life and my past and my joys and sorrows are for the most past not of interest or at least not accessible to others.

This is not a moan or a bad thing, nor is it to say I am in anyway ignored or marginalized by my friends and family. It is something else I am trying to get at. Firstly, in the USA we tend to start every new encounter with the question, "What do you do?". Answers like, "I go where it is warm." or "I take my granddaughter for walks." or "I volunteer at Greenpeace." are excellent conversation stoppers. You never even get to "I invented the MRI machine" or "I saved a village in Guatemala." or "I painted the Sistine Chapel." let alone "We stopped the building of the second Seabrook NH nuke and that stopped all nuclear power construction in the US up to now.

For an initial negative observation, most young people know no history. Sorry. But this is true. Remember the nice young lady with a Masters Degree from an outstanding college who informed me that the USA was not just the first but the only democracy in the world and where had I been if I didn't know this. On my side, I am slower and back off from rhapsodic talk about new phones or tablets or the joys of fancy brands. I am kind of done with stuff. I also have to work hard to be interested in non-action complaints. If you don't like something do something to make it better or at least stop buying it. So, I am probably a bit more rigid than I was when I was younger. Yes, I am most definitely.

I am bumbling here, trying to make sense of life at a new stage. There is a tremendous freedom in being nobody. I don't have to keep up any image and there is no hustle to impress. There is a peaceful anonymity. But there is also a rather uncomfortable invisibility. I am convinced that a lot of really great people were humble. I would like to be humble, but it is a little like squeezing the genii back into the bottle to let go of that ego rush of the past.

Just saying...