Yesterday was International Day of the Older Persons as declared by the United Nations. The theme of this year’s celebration and awareness campaign is “about enabling and expanding the contributions of older people in their families, communities and societies at large. It focuses on the pathways that support full and effective participation in old age, in accordance with old persons’ basic rights, needs and preferences.” And “This year’s theme underscores the link between tapping the talents and contributions of older persons.”
The world over there are millions of people whose abilities and talents are under utilized simply because of their age.
I have long felt that we need to see growing old as an aspirational goal. We know the alternative, of course, and no one knows what great work and deeds might lie ahead if one has a truly long healthy lifetime to fulfill their promise.
This year I want to focus on two people. Jane Fonda and Robert Redford.
Talented, accomplished, socially conscious and STILL working at 79 and 81 respectfully. Their newest collaboration for Netflix is “Our Souls at Night” based on the novel by Kent Haruf.
As Jane Fonda says in the tribute video Netflix released along with the film “This is our 4th movie together and now he’s 81 and I’m 79. I thought well that’s pretty cool, who would have thought!
How lucky are we that both these people have lived long enough to still be making movies together 50 years after their debut together in "Barefoot in the Park”
Bravo!
P.S. Here is what Rotten Tomatoes had to say about the film.
