Geezers Get Their Shot

From my perspective as a certified geezer, I keep a close eye on stuff that has to do with older Americans. It’s often a depressing drill. America is a youth-oriented country. Probably sprouts from our pioneer heritage when older folks who couldn’t physically contribute were mostly ignored or left to rot beside some trail being blazed westward through the wilderness.

Things are better these days when longevity beyond seven or eight decades is commonplace. Thank you, medical science. But there’s still a national tendency to elbow older guys and gals out of the mainstream and into fogey land while younger, more energetic folks get on with the pressing concerns in our society. We’re talking about practical matters here. Politics is the exception that mostly proves the rule but even in that morass, a gaggle of young partisans is in the ascendancy. There are lots of terms for this phenomenon including ageism, codger bias, old-poop prejudice, and a bunch of others, but the common denominator is ignorance.

It’s ignorant to waste assets. Ignoring or disregarding the hard-earned wisdom older folks have accumulated over years of surviving the surviving is just that. These are people who have lived—often just barely—through wars, wrenching social upheavals, pandemics, economic disasters, and staggering technology leaps. You don’t survive things like that without picking up some valuable knowledge and insights along the way. There are lots of old men and women in this country that are capable of much more than vegging out on a couch or drooling gruel into their laps.

That’s one of the reasons I’m such a fan of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her recently announced plan to do away with upper age limits for qualified Americans who want to serve with her Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) law enforcement arm. Smart move, Madam Secretary, and please consider these thoughts from a guy in the Amen Corner of Codgerville.

We’ll be expecting you to be selective here. Nod politely and send all the folks in walkers and wheelchairs back to the sidelines. That includes older applicants who just want a badge on their vest and a pistol on their creaky hips. Those folks are just bored or TV cop-show fans and not the kind of agents you want on the streets. There are older Americans, particularly in our military veteran communities, who want nothing more than a chance to continue in service to a great nation. Give older vets a solid shot. There are lots of them out there wishing they’d stayed in uniform and looking to rekindle things like discipline, comradery, and common purpose.

Screen carefully for motivations. Look for qualities like patriotism, a belief in the overriding justice of our legal system, and a sincere desire to serve while they can still do something besides sit around and bitch. Give those older men and women the benefit of close calls on the PT test and vet for life experience over beef and brawn. What you need to avoid is hiring a gang of tatted-up elderly thugs wearing badges and bearing grudges against perceived slights.

The key, long-range goal should be to wind up with some geezers who bring experience, empathy, and sound judgement to the very necessary business of catching and deporting criminal aliens. Bear in mind that reducing the draw on public funds and medical services for illegal aliens is good for all of us. Keep the codgers around as a leavening agent among your cadre of younger and often over-enthusiastic ICE agents, and you wind up with an outfit that’s capable of intelligently policing the laws already on the books concerning immigration into this country.

There’s a chance to set precedent here that might well be employed in other areas where our nation is lacking momentum. The FBI and other law enforcement agencies from Federal to small-town metro forces could all do with a little senior leavening. A lot of eligible aspirants have been parents who bring a unique perspective to dealing with rowdy kids and enforcing proper behavior codes. A little of that would go a long way in reducing street crime before misdemeanors become felonies.

Call me a whiney old poop but you wouldn’t be the first and likely not the last to do that. Over eight decades of living, I’ve learned that age often brings wisdom rather than weakness.

Click for Books by Dale A. Dye