I'm Not Joe Biden
Actually yes I am. I'm successfully old.
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT I’LL BE ON THE BACK PATIO AT CLOVER CLUB THE SATURDAY EVENING OF HEIDELBERG ALUMNI WEEKEND. HOPE TO SEE SOME OF YOU.
I don’t know if this is credible firsthand reporting, but I’m a few years older than Joe Biden, and for that reason alone, may have something to say about his mental and physical health.
Aging affects people differently. No one sees that more clearly than someone who attends events with people their own age.
We need glasses. Some need hearing aids. Unless we have been and still are gym rats, our grip is softer, we cannot lift the same weight as we could when we were 20. (And 50 and 60 and 70.) We don’t slide into things head first to beat a tag. In fact our balance is not what it was, so we hold onto rails walking down the stairs and don’t climb walls.
Short term memory might not be as sharp as it was (actually helps with concentration and work, i.e. we are not as distracted by things that “stick” in the mind), and we forget names a bit more than in the past.
Oh, and we may look old. I like an older face. You’ve earned it and the longer you live the more your face tells the world about who you are. And possibly you are better at controlling your face, the myriad muscles that make up the human expression. Be wary when playing poker (or negotiating) with an older guy.
Speech impairment? Probably I pause more, searching for the right word (my vocabulary is still increasing). I even sometimes think before I speak. A real breakthrough for someone like me. Some of my friends may miss the improvisations, but as a friend says, we don’t miss your “nerd humor.”
Innovative thinking, judgment, ability to read people, sensitivity to context, intuition (which is nothing more than having more points of past reference to compare with present perceptions), all and more stay the same or improve.
Now there may be, for many, as they age, a greater reluctance to do the unnecessary and a much greater appreciation of the distinction between important and trivial. You don’t go looking for trouble and you have a much more refined filter when it comes to impulsive actions.
You probable play the piano with more sensitivity and passion, if not hitting all the right keys. I type at the same speed as always, maybe faster because my mind drives me on at a fast pace, and I make more mistakes with my fingers on the keys. Maybe more passion here as well. Thanks to the modern computer I can easily backup and correct. Good practice. More of us need to backup and correct.
That’s about it.
Point of it all: Don’t hold the wrong idea about Joe Biden—at least based on a stumble or two, and his birth year.