Age And

The election will be over when these words are read, but as I linger over my coffee, I ponder not on the yet uncounted votes, but another topic,

I now share a residence with 100 plus others, all in the similar age group, Many are widowed and alone. Another segment are caregivers and there are a handful of independent survivors.

Yet the reality is we are all old, and waiting for our turn on the ferry.

Still the atmosphere today is electric.

TV’s can be heard as you walk down the historic halls en route to the theatre where the results will filter in on the life-size screen.

And I wonder what ignited the intensity of emotion for a segment of society perceived to have little or no value in the next decade.

Although we are blessed with financial independence, we are an emotional drain on our families, the younger generation who stand in the shadows watching age take its inevitable toll.

It could be perceived that the obvious enthusiasm is based on shared memories. Perhaps that is valid to some slight degree, but it is not a crucial factor.

The uncomfortable truth is that a significant percentage of the residents will not survive the winner’s four year term. And, of course, I include myself in that painful prediction.

Still despite all the professional and medical attempts to provoke enthusiasm I have witnessed in my eight years of residence, nothing has paralleled today’s intensity and resurgence of interest and vocal contribution.

There is a murmur of conversation that doesn’t dissipate as the counts trickle slowly in and are counted. None of the audience slide into slumber as often happens during lectures or Hallmark films,

Of course, admittedly, today’s atmosphere is also adorned with a fringe of friction as opposing sides react to the numbers flooding the screen.

A few friendships have fractured during the long campaign leaving me to wonder if repairs are possible.

Yet despite all the negatives in the seemingly endless campaign, I find a ray of hope glimmering from the resurgence of emotion that it resurrected in both the community and age bracket I so reluctantly share.

For a brief moment in time, youth returned.

Although history will undoubtedly record the negativity of the emotional campaign and the opposing candidates, it emphatically erased age and admitted enthusiasm for we who had almost forgotten to care.

Vive la difference!