In our youth-obsessed society, the elderly are nearly invisible, hovering near the edges of existence.
Well, perhaps that trend is ending. There seems to be a bit of a senior citizen revolution afoot: from Roger Angell's (he's 93, by the way) funny, honest essay in a recent issue of the New Yorker, filled with killer quotes like:
I’m not dead and not yet mindless in a reliable upstate facility. Decline and disaster impend, but my thoughts don’t linger there. It shouldn’t surprise me if at this time next week I’m surrounded by family, gathered on short notice—they’re sad and shocked but also a little pissed off to be here—to help decide, after what’s happened, what’s to be done with me now. It must be this hovering knowledge, that two-ton safe swaying on a frayed rope just over my head, that makes everyone so glad to see me again. “How great you’re looking! Wow, tell me your secret!” they kindly cry when they happen upon me crossing the street or exiting a dinghy or departing an X-ray room, while the little balloon over their heads reads, “Holy shit—he’s still vertical!
to Linda Perhacs media-blitzed new album (the 70-year-old folk singer is being talked about here and here and, yes, even here), the long in the tooth are proving that millennials aren't the only ones worth paying attention to these days.
Which brings us to this amazing clip of Evelyn, a near-centenarian actively proving that she's not even close to giving up on life. Her story was captured by I Like Giving, an excellent organization that works to inspire people to get off the narcissistic gerbil wheel—let's get real: most of us are spinning round and round in a cycle of me-me-me—and focus on helping others.
Seriously, this is one of the sweetest—scratch that—one of the most downright rad clips you'll see today.
Image courtesy of I Like Giving and YouTube
