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NORTH OF FIFTY

By Robert Tussey

I’ve been hearing that phrase, North of Fifty, a lot lately. own fortitude, steering through the carnage as best as I
Are we boomers that anxious about aging that we’re us- could. Now that I’m looking (very closely) at sixty I think I
ing the compass to define us? Actually I’m more south of could have done better: Could have played more music
sixty than north… you get the picture. I don’t mind being and written more; perhaps tried my hand at a sonnet,
the age I am; I kinda like it. I’ve grown this whole body of or maybe even some couplets. I won’t play the ‘should
knowledge and experience that now defines me as a man have’ game, that was my parents’ battle cry.
and a member of the world community. I can’t afford the The thing is, I still have plenty of time to do those things
jaded eye my parents used as they got older: This time in and wallow in the satisfaction of completion. We all do.
history dictates that we be much more aware and open Most of us on this side of the fifty yard line are seeing the
and that we keep pushing the boundaries. That’s Just nests emptying which allows us to go on and do so much
what we boomers like – upsetting the apple cart. more than our parents. They were old at this age; ‘we
As Don Henley says, “We will not go quietly, we will not will not go quietly.’ The pleasure of playing music in front
lie down.” We boomers have been in the unique posi- of an audience is even more appealing today than it was
tion of seeing our music and politics change the world in my teens. We recently saw JD Souther (who co-wrote
(perhaps not all for the better, but still…). I don’t see that so many of the Eagles great songs) and at sixty-five he’s
dynamic today although it seems this next generation is as vital and engaging as he was in the seventies. ‘We
becoming more politically active, which they should – this will not lie down.’
will be theirs someday. North of fifty tells me we’re hand- And that’s the point; we boomers will push the limits and
ing over the mantle and we should be more concerned body- slam the strictures our parents could not. I really
about what we leave these future leaders. We aspire to dislike the phrase ‘sixty is the new fifty.’ No, we’re sixty
give them a green beginning wrapped with a ribbon of and should be proud of every year and the merit badges
promise about what the future can be. The key here is that came with them. Those grey hairs and lines on our
what it CAN be. faces are the roadmap to our history. Mark Twain said,
I like to think I take it seriously, but I don’t always hit “Age is an issue of mind over matter, if you don’t mind,
the mark. I made it to twenty, hit thirty, cautiously tip- it doesn’t matter.” Like I said, I don’t mind being my age,
toed past forty and slammed into fifty mostly on my except I can’t wear bell bottoms anymore.
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November/December 2010