Still a Smart Person
On Sunday night (1/8/23) while watching recorded episodes of that day’s CBS Sunday Morning and 60 Minutes, I was taken back to almost 50 years ago when I attended a meeting inGrethe Peterson’s1 historic home2 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For introductions, she asked each of us to say why we wanted to be a part of this group of women who started and were publishing Exponent II.3 I still remember saying, “Because it makes me feel like a smart person.”
A Smart Person
Even then, as a young woman with a bachelors degree who had spenteight years being a stay-at-home mother while my husband earned his doctorate and taught at a Massachusetts State College, I recognized the need to be identified as someone who had more inside of me than what could easily be seen, andwho wanted to be useful in ways that I felt used more of the brain I had put so much into. At 79, having retired 13 years ago from the job of Marketing Manager for a computer software company, I still feel much the same way.
The segment of CBS Sunday Morning that inspired me and caused me to connect my past with my present was an interview by Leslie Stahl with Hans Zimmer, 65, who has composed music for over 150 films.He has won two Oscars and four Grammys, and has been nominated for twoEmmys and a Tony.
An Excerpt from CBS Sunday Morning:
Hans Zimmer: I tell you what. So, when you start out, you have all that stuff that you've never
done before. Every movie had every idea, every device, every chord change, every--
whatever in it. Now, I think it's more of figuring out what to do new. But it becomes
harder and harder, because I've used up so much ammunition in the past. I live in
constant fear of the day my phone will stop ringing.”
Lesley Stahl: Even after 150? Do you think you're motivated by that fear--
Hans Zimmer: But it's only 150, do you know what I mean? (LAUGH) It's like, what if 151 is a complete disaster? (LAUGH)
Lesley Stahl: Oh, wow--
Hans Zimmer: You know, I'm still alive. You know, I'm 65 years old now and people are going, "Are you gonna retire? You gonna go and put your feet up?" And I'm going, "No, I'm full of ideas. I'm just getting started."
Lesley Stahl: Do you really think that?
Hans Zimmer: I really think that.
The segment of 60 Minutes that similarly inspired me was an interview by CBS correspondent Seth Doane with Michelle Yeoh, 60. Malaysian actress and international superstar, she recently was named “Icon of the Year” by Time magazine and won a Golden Globe for her performance in the movie “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
An Excerpt from 60 Minutes:
Seth Doane: At 60, [you] seem to defy aging, but [you were] still surprised to get this role
Michelle Yeoh: It was amazing to think that at this point in my career, because, you know it's like, the older you get, they see you by your age rather than see you by your capability.But, the directing duo Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinertthey thought, “She can do this….We believe Michelle will be able to do it.” And to receive that? You don't know how joyful."
Seth Doane: It touches you?
Michelle Yeoh: Yes.
Seth Doane: Why so deeply?
Michelle Yeoh: It's like, when someone gives you the opportunity to show what you are capable of.
Seth Doane: You've had a rich career.
Michelle Yeoh: Oh, I had a spectacular career. But, you know, you don't want it to just slow down or end because you have gotten to a certain age….And then you go like, 'No, come on, guys, give me a chance, because I feel that I am still able to do all that'….It's so fun; now, when I go on the streets and the younger kids, they're shy, but they'll walk up and say, 'We think you're cool. Can we do a picture with you?' And I'm like, Yessssss!
Like Zimmer and Yeoh, in many ways at age 79, I feel like I’m just getting started. As a widow of not quite two years, I’m in a whole new phase of my life. I treasure each new day, hoping that I will have lots more of them to find out what is still inside of me and what I can contribute to others.
I can’t imagine that I’m that unusual. Maybe some people believe what they’ve been told to believe about getting older, and that just because they are older, they can’t do certain things anymore. But I think the majority of us elderly people want to feel like our life has purpose from the beginning to the end. We still want to try new things and be recognized for the things we can continue to do.
Like Hans Zimmer I sometimes feel like I’m just getting started. And like Michelle Yeoh, I want to say, “Come on guys, give me a chance, because I feel that I’m still able to do all that.” I’m thrilled when a grandchild or another much-younger person says they think I’m “cool.” I still want to do things that make me feel like “a smart person.”
Health professionals tell us that there’s more than ego involved in these feelings. They say that the more new things we try and make a habit of doing, the healthier our brains will be. New habits make new connections and new pathways in our brains. I know I can’t move as quickly or for as long as I used to. I have to be realistic about that. But for most of us, there are still new things we can try, and each new thing can help us to keep feeling like we are “Still a smart person.”
Footnotes:
1) While living in Boston from 1967-1978, Petersen, now 91, became managing editor of Exponent II, a newspaper inspired by the original Women’s Exponent, a semi-official publication of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that began in 1872. It was "the first long-lived feminist periodical in the western United States.”
2) Once the home of William James (1842-1910), philosopher and psychologist. He was instrumental in establishing Harvard's psychology department, which at its inception was tied to the department of philosophy. in Cambridge, Mass.
3) When The Women’s Exponent newspaper was discovered in Harvard’s Widener Library by a women's group in Massachusetts, they launched a new publication in 1974, entitled Exponent II, independent of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but partially inspired by the earlier magazine. It continues to the present day, along with a program of annual retreats, and latterly a semi-autonomous blog site, The Exponent.