So I created Age in America as a platform
to educate and to tell the stories of older adults. I created a set of questions that I asked everyone that I interviewed. I trav- eled to a lot of different places—to senior centers, nursing homes, retirement com- munities—and I asked these older adults this same set of questions. And I took their photos and then posted the interviews on- line and on social media. It was a way to utilize storytelling to tell
individual people’s stories and to highlight the interesting lives of older adults.
Q. What was that experience like for you? A. It was awesome. I had to stop because of COVID, and I’d like to restart it because it was such an amazing experience. The best part was interviewing people and giving
them a chance to tell their incredible stories. One of the questions I asked every person
was just, “What is it like to be your age?” An- other was, “Do you wish you were younger?” And 95 percent of the time, people would say that they did not wish that they were young- er—that they were in a great place now, and they were very happy to be their age. That lines up with the “happiness curve”
from the recent study [by Dartmouth pro- fessor David Blanchflower] that shows that people get happier again when they’re old- er—the curve goes back up to how happy they were when they were younger. That’s very different from what society
might tell us or what the media might depict about getting older, like it’s some horrible descent into misery. I learned so much from the people I interviewed. It was such an en- riching experience.
I began to learn about just how ageist our society is and how that has shaped the way that we think about older adults and how we treat them, including in the area of public policy. It really opened my eyes.
CLEAR SKIES FOR DREAM FLIGHTS FOR WORLD WAR II VETS
The Dream Flights organization’s project to honor and celebrate veterans of WWII with free flights in vintage biplanes, Operation September Freedom, met with great success and many extraordinary co-pilots over the course of its two-month barnstorming tour in August and September 2021.
The event, founded in 2011 by Darryl Fisher, has made 891 flights to date. But 2021 was the first year the flights were dedicated to World War II veterans only.
Senior living communities and others sent in names of WWII veterans interested, bringing the number of veterans given rides over the years to more than 5,000. The unique event garnered media attention in every town and a Veterans Day segment on the History Channel. The nonprofit has given free biplane rides to veterans and seniors since it was founded in 2011. (Argentum is one of several corporate sponsors of the program.)
One of the famous Tuskegee Airmen, James Shipley, age 98, was celebrated with live music, parachute demonstrations, and a large group of onlookers and media for his flight at the Jefferson City, Mo., airport. Visitors urged him to stay several hours autographing his biography, “Together as One,” Jeremy P. Amick of the Fulton Sun reported.
Others who made flights this fall included Florida WWII veteran who has become famous on TikTok, “Papa John” McCrary, and Army nurse Ruth Rosen of Minnesota—who took flight one day before her 100th birthday. A compilation video of the flights is on the Dream Flights channel on YouTube.
To be notified when 2022 flight plans are in place and requests are being taken, check
dreamflights.org and sign up for updates.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022
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