Age Is Not The Problem

I spend much more time reading newspaper articles and editorials than I did before our most recent presidential election. If Donald Trump wanted attention, he is certainly getting his wish.  He is usually the subject of at least half of the opinion pieces in most major newspapers on any given day.  Some of them, however, miss the point.  I don't care if President Trump likes his steak well done and served with ketchup.  I don't care whether he and the First Lady share a bedroom or not.  These things are his personal business and have nothing to do with the harm he is doing to this country and to the world. However, the statement that irks me most is, "The president is 71 years old and he's not going to change now".  He's 71 years old - so what?  I'm 65 and I am learning and changing every day.  My spouse is the same age as the president - their only similarity, I think - and she is also learning and changing every day.  Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden are about the same age as Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders is a little older.  John McCain is in his mid-eighties and his opinions seem to change every day.  One of my hospice patients is 95 years old and blind.  When I visited her, I saw a stack of recorded history books from the Library for the Blind beside her chair.   "No fiction?", I asked.  "I like history" she replied, "and there's always something new to learn."  President Trump doesn't seem interested in learning how American government works, about other countries, or about the pressing problems facing the United States and the world, but it's not because he is 71 years old.  It's who he is, not how old he is, that is the problem.