OPINION: 'Elder power' can help guide world to better place

If you are under 35, don’t read this letter. It’s not for you. It’s for people with over 60 or 70 years of life experience. It’s for those of us who are worried about a future for our kids and grandkids.

We are the elders standing at the leading edge of human development. Like Moses’ spies sent to explore the Promised Land of Canaan, we are the pioneers who are living longer than any people before us. Extra years offer the opportunity to lead the way, not to be taken care of and infantilized. Not to have others make decisions for us or put us on the shelf along with our dreams of a world made better because we are here.

What we do with the extra years that human evolution has granted us is crucial to the future for everyone. We have the perspective of long years and the wisdom of a lifetime of experiences. The question is what can and will we do with the knowledge and insight of our years to bring about a better world for those that come after us.

 Can we speak out for a future of understanding? Can we set an example by demonstrating values that will help pave the road to peace and understanding? Can we help our kids walk that road together in spite of their differences, their heritage, or their religion? Can we guide them forward to a wider vision for mankind focused on supporting one another so that the lines between “haves” and “have nots” fade and disappear?

Can we think beyond our shrinking incomes and physical incapacities toward a time when human survival is based on connection to one another near or far, without regard for origin or color? Can we help them move toward the future, not wishing to return to the past? The safety we long for by going backward is an illusion. The safety we seek lies in sharing our experience, good and bad, to co-create a world that is prosperous and safe for us all.

 Have we lost our vision of what peace and prosperity can look like? Will we remain stuck in longing for security? Or remain focused only on the present, refusing to recognize the changes that move faster each day.

We have a choice … to look backward or to move ahead. We can chose to co-create an intergenerational vision of a world of understanding and collaboration in which both young and old feel safe. We bring the currency of our wisdom to the table. Young people bring their courage and vision.

 Our legacy is to lead the way toward the future with them, not resist it. Our job is to be responsive to their problems, fears and challenges and to help point the way to the far shore.

 But, if we end our lives living in fear, we’ll fail to make our contribution. If we spend our time living in idealized memories of the past and rebel against moving forward, we’ll betray our legacy.

 Elders are a powerful political force today. We have the power of numbers and experience. Let’s vote for the future, not the past. Let’s not squander our precious time and experience regretting that we no longer live in the 1950s. It is time for all of us become mentors and collaborators with younger generations.

 It is time to stand in our “elder power.”

Albert, of Whitefish, is a certified “Age-ing to Sage-ing” seminar leader, author and life-transitions coach.