2025 May 27 The meaning of life versus ageism

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Hi, this is Jim Cranston from 7EveryMinute and 7EveryMinute.com, the podcast and website about reimagining your life. Thanks for joining me today to talk about ageism versus a meaningful life. If you like what you hear today, please leave a like, subscribe, tell your friends, send me a message.

Tonight, we're going to be talking about ageism. Tonight we're going to look at it from the standpoint of how having ageist thoughts, or subscribing to ageist thinking, undermines a person's ability to really have a meaningful life.

I was reading an article on ageism—about President Biden’s prostate cancer—and it mentioned the sudden rise in serious cases of prostate cancer. Years back, the government recommended that men older than 75, and later 70, shouldn’t be screened for prostate cancer. They even went so far as to recommend that men aged 55 to 69 should merely have a discussion on the risks and benefits of screening for prostate cancer. That recommendation, by the way, resulted in a huge spike in the cases of serious prostate cancer.

But interestingly—this is where the ageism comes into play—it turns out that the architect of the Affordable Care Act, Dr. Emanuel, who is currently 67, also wrote an article for The Atlantic entitled Why I Hope to Die at 75. In it, he talks about how living to a ripe old age—75 or even younger, as he says in the article—renders many of us, if not disabled, then faltering and declining. Even if we're not demented, our mental functioning deteriorates as we grow older.

He was the architect of the Affordable Care Act. Someone with a total and hugely negative age bias, which helps explain why it's still so incredibly difficult to get a reasonable insurance policy. Think about his statements for a minute. There were more—actually, even more negative—but there’s an interesting underlying thought process going on here. 

Oh—a quick aside: Denmark just raised their retirement age to 70 years old, effective in a few years, and it’s currently 67. That’s because their equivalent of Social Security is based on the average lifespan of the population. So as lifespan increases, so does the retirement age.

Now, think again about Dr. Emanuel's statement that life is effectively over at, or even before, 75 years old. And Denmark thinks, Hey, you're still a productive person in society till you're 70 years old. The undertone in that statement from Dr. Emanuel is that your life has no meaning once you retire. Nice way to look at life. Talk about an unmotivating way to live your life.

I'll simply say that everything about those statements—his statements and that attitude—is categorically and completely off base and simply wrong. When you're older, you can often work far more efficiently because of your experience. When you're older, you have a far better developed sense of perspective and are less likely to follow false shiny objects or trends. And when you're older, you're more likely to be compassionate if you're willing to look back into your own life. Remember you made the same mistakes when you were younger. 

When you're older, you're in a unique position to mentor following generations—to take a longer view, to prepare for the future, and to be vigilant about today. Because you've seen the fads come and go, and you realize that the core principles—those are what will carry you through difficult times.

Here's a completely different way to look at aging than the supposed medical expert proclaimed. Aging is a time of mental and spiritual growth—spiritual not just in a religious sense, but in the sense of philosophical and awareness growth. It's also a time to acknowledge that, indeed, the body does keep the score, and that all those health shortcuts you took—well, they're starting to come home to roost. Now is the right time to start living better physical lives so we can best enjoy this time of our lives.

It's also a time of great appreciation—not only of what we've enjoyed so far, but how we can help mold the world that we live in. There are many reasons for ageism, and I would suggest that one of them is that those in power don't especially want to hear from us—because we're old enough to recognize the lies they're saying.

Another reality is far different than the soundbite on social media. We're old enough to realize that everybody's view really is important. And as conceptually fun as it may seem, living in an echo chamber is really not good for any of us, and certainly not good for the country as a whole.

We're old enough to remember when you could have a discussion about something, and it didn’t have to end with two sides hating each other and refusing to talk anymore. The modern political climate of near total political polarization—that’s not the way it’s always been, and it’s not a healthy way to run a country or the world. We’re old enough to remember when buying a single bag of groceries didn’t cost over a hundred dollars, and that you didn’t get annoyed at the tractor full of corn or grain going down the road in front of you—because that was the food you were going to eat in a couple days and you knew the farmer personally. Until fairly recently, New York—where I live—was one of the leading farming states. So take that, Washington, Idaho, and Iowa, because we’re in the same league with all those grains and fruits. Our food was local. It didn’t have to be flown in from around the globe.

These are very important things—not only to remember but to pass along to younger generations. Many people think that the way we live today is the only way to live, because they’ve never seen anything else. And why would they think something’s different if they’ve never seen something different? Obviously, we’ve always lived this way.

The older people in their lives are portrayed as these brainless idiots who can’t even use anything beyond a dial telephone. So why should they listen to us? They will listen to you, however, and learn from you when you share all the knowledge you’ve accumulated—freely and without judgment.

You think their music is boring or stupid? How about teaching them some music theory—show them how much they can do with it, and how they can make the music sound really different? But—and this is a very big but—listen to their music and understand what they find interesting. See how the two views complement each other.

Everything in your discussion should be a two-way street. When you start looking for opportunities to engage, you’ll find many things in common, but you’ll also be providing a context for them for the future. When you start engaging across generations and points of view, you’ll also suddenly find much more meaning in your life. That’s the biggest thing that ageism, and ageist thinking, suppresses.

When you automatically discount anyone past an arbitrary age, you're not only hurting yourself, but you're hurting the other person and society as a whole. You’ve just taken somebody who has a different perspective and a different view of the world and completely discounted that for no valid reason. And you’re setting yourself up to feel like an automatic failure, because in later years, the sole reason you’re looking at these people as not being good is because they’re not young.

And someday, you won’t be young. So you know, automatically, you’ll be somebody to be despised by others. That’s a real shame. In reality, with a simple mindset shift, we could easily take back control of our society, our country, and the world by engaging across generations and building upon the huge foundation of knowledge that’s often locked up because we just discount our older citizens. There’s no good reason why we shouldn’t access all that knowledge.

It’s interesting to see how society is working in Ukraine. Every generation is working towards a common goal, and every generation is trying to learn from the others. They have no time for silly ageist thoughts. Instead, they’re constantly working together for a common goal.

So look at what you have to offer the world, and don’t try to force an opinion on somebody. Just offer your experience when it makes sense. Don’t go into the good old days mode. Maybe offer some practical tips on something—like saving money to a struggling young person. You could suggest that perhaps the most overpriced grocery store item is pudding mix, for example, or gravy mix, and how simple it is to make from scratch. You know, it’s way cheaper and tastes better.

There are a million other simple openings in every area of life—whether it’s cutting a board, walking down the street, picking a route to something. There are a thousand, thousand things that have just been forgotten. And part of that reason is because of the ageist way of thinking that’s being pushed onto everybody.

Doing these little tiny knowledge-sharing moments—these ideas and suggestions and many other things, especially in politics—not only add meaning to your life but can also hopefully add some perspective and respect between the generations. And it gives everybody a better future to look forward to.

So that’s it for the evening. Your homework tonight is to think about some things that bother you or upset you now in the world—and what you might say to a younger person who doesn’t understand why you don’t think it’s a good idea, or why the situation is so bad. Extra points if you also research the popular opinion. There’s always some popular opinion that’s probably annoying you. Research a little bit—not just to find problems with it, but also to see if there’s any good parts about it that maybe you missed because you judged it too hastily as well.

So that’s it for tonight. Remember, we’re going to be hosting a free webinar called Smart Goals for Life. This interactive session will be expanding on everything we discussed in our series on SMART goals. We’ll provide practical worksheets and exercises to help you apply those concepts to your own goals. We're working to put together an AI assistant for this. You’ll be able to input a particular goal you’re working on, give it some context, and get initial guidance on how to reconfigure it as a SMART goal. We’re excited about that. It has delayed things a little, but it’s coming along.

Whether you’re considering retirement, changing careers, or any other life transition, this webinar will give you tools to work with and help you achieve goals that truly matter to you. We’ll work through examples that you provide, and you’ll leave with a personalized action plan created for your needs. If there’s something specific you’d like us to cover, drop us a note or send me an email. 

Stay tuned for the specific date and sign-up details. Please remember to register, even if you can’t attend live—there will be replays and a recording of the session. You’ll also be entered into a raffle for our new products.

That’s it for the evening. Please remember the many wars going on in the world, the areas of political unrest—there’s a lot happening. UKR7.com is where we have links to help support the people of Ukraine—something near and dear to my heart and something that should be near and dear to all of us. Then there's World Central Kitchen. Wherever there’s a disaster, World Central Kitchen shows up and helps get food and basic services going for the people there.

Both are great organizations—one focused on Ukraine, the other on the world in general. And of course, there are always local organizations wherever it is that you’re living, and they can always use help with donations or in-person support. If you’re not in a position or mindset to donate right now, remember that even saying a simple hello or giving a smile to someone can really change their day. One of the best ways to care for yourself is to care for others. 

As always, thank you for stopping by. If you found something interesting or useful, please pass it along. Please subscribe, hit that like button, and drop me a comment about what you’d like to hear. Have a great week. 

Remember to live the life that you dream of, because that’s the path to true contentment. Love and encouragement to everyone. See you next week on 7EveryMinute and 7EveryMinute.com. Thank you.