Join the newly formed #NotDying4WallStreet club.
Suddenly I am elderly, at risk. Not a category an active, healthy 65-year-old generally puts themselves in. That sounds too much like death, which is something we don’t readily talk about.
But it’s right in front of us now. Usually, it’s way back on the obituary pages where the language is more likely to be “passed away” than “died.” Now, the daily coronavirus death toll is blasted on news alerts, posted on online maps and charts and listed in “what you need to know” about the global pandemic.
Hard to avoid.
Despite what Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, 69, believes, not all of us over 60 are willing to die so efforts to revive the economy can come sooner rather than later. Personally, I’m in the newly formed #NotDying4WallStreet club.
Worldwide, he’s taking on nearly 1 billion people in the over-60 category, the fastest-growing age segment.
Besides, that doesn’t solve the more pertinent issue of the startling lack of supplies that hospitals and medical personnel are facing. Unless, of course, he’s suggesting that anyone over 60 simply not get any treatment, and therefore the hospitals will perhaps not be overwhelmed.
It’s reminiscent of the controversy former Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm created in 1984 when he said of the elderly: “We’ve got a duty to die and get out of the way with all of our machines and artificial hearts and everything else like that and let the other society, our kids, build a reasonable life.”
He was talking about the enormous cost and the resources used to marginally extend people’s lives while others had limited or no access to medical care.
He quickly learned, as Patrick is (though not universally in either case), that Americans don’t want the government to decide such questions.
Lamm, now 84, recently told Westword that he supports what Gov. Jared Polis is doing to flatten the curve on coronavirus — but he hopes this pandemic will again bring focus on the inequities in U.S. health care.
Regardless of those big end-oflife philosophical questions, we older folks seem to be taking note of our own mortality under the shadow of COVID-19.
Barron’s reports that estate lawyers and financial advisers in the U.S. are seeing an increase in people wanting to prepare or update wills and estate plans right now. Likewise, The Daily Telegraph reports that requests for wills and powers of attorney are up 30% in the United Kingdom.
If we’re doing as directed and staying home, we certainly have time to take care of our personal affairs, although I’d rather read a good book than clean out files and closets.
Still, I’m happy to stay home and do my part to stay healthy.
I’m saving on gas money, not buying things I don’t need and using up food and adult beverages that already were in my pantry — you know, the stuff you save for a special occasion.
While it may be lonelier for us, especially those who live alone, we are finding our communities on social media and through phone calls. I’ve been eyeing a large box of stationery.
We are warmed to our toes by the loving concern from our children and others.
In many ways, while those of us over 60 may be more fearful of getting sick than the young, it is easier (not necessarily easy) for us to curtail our lives, especially if we are no longer working full time (although keep in mind that many of those age 60 to 66 and beyond remain a key part of our workforce). If we are on fixed incomes that makes life much less precarious than it is for those facing reduced hours, layoffs or furloughs.
One thing that may be harder though, is the missed family events — reunions, vacations, graduations, birthday parties, weddings and the like. The older you are, the fewer there are in your future, and such occasions and simple time with family become increasingly cherished.
While I may chafe at the idea of being “elderly,” I find it abhorrent that anyone is willing to risk overwhelming funeral homes with the bodies of me and others my age so it can be “business as usual.”
Politicians have no business picking human winners and sacrificing losers in a global pandemic.