Leave Room at the Table for People of All Ages

Have you ever been set off by something someone said right after you woke up, sick and out of sorts? That happened to me today.

Awakened by one of my flu's symptoms, I flipped on an all-news TV channel sometime before five this morning. A perky anchor, interviewing an entertainment reporter, introduced a clip from David Letterman's monologue. The subject of Letterman's gag: the Paul McCartney halftime show at Super Bowl XXXIX. The punchline: it "sucked."

That, of course, is a matter of subjective taste. I loved it. Letterman didn't. I agree with me, but he's entitled to his opinion. It wasn't Letterman who set me off, though.

No, it was something that the perky anchor said after the Letterman clip. Laughing, she said to her guest something like, "I have to agree. I mean, Paul McCartney is okay. But he's sixty-two years old!"

Apparently Ms. Perky Anchor--I never did catch her name--thinks that there should be an age cut-off for when you can be seen in public. If you're sixty-two, it seems, you have no business performing on a stage.

The problem is that Ms. PA probably speaks for much of contemporary society. Dr. Gerald Mann, whose credibility may be clouded because he's in his sixties, observes that our society is the first one in history to have contempt for its elders. We have elevated youth culture to a place of primacy, encouraging children to "grow up" to libidinous obsessions before they're psychologically ready and adults to do almost anything to mask their ages.

I have nothing against youth culture. My CD collection includes releases by artists in their twenties.

But is there no room for artists or others who the gatekeepers of mainstream culture deem "over the hill"?

There should be. Consider these examples:

Winston Churchill, after long years in the political wilderness, was finally elevated to the prime ministership at Great Britain's moment of greatest peril, when he was sixty-five. He performed magnificently.

Grandma Moses first picked up a paintbrush and wowed the world--experts and laypeople--with her nativistic paintings after she'd turned seventy.

Pablo Picasso was creating until the very end of his long life.

Jimmy Carter is traversing the globe to promote peace, democracy, and decent living conditions. He continues to write fascinating books and be a profound witness for faith in Jesus Christ. He's doing all of this in spite of being eighty years old.

Biblically, Moses stands out as someone who was vital at an advanced age. He apparently sensed while he was still young that he was to be a leader. But after a spectacularly failed attempt at leading his fellow Hebrews, he went into exile. He himself was eighty before he was called by God to lead his people from slavery in Egypt toward the promised land.

People don't necessarily cease being interesting or creative at a certain age. I've known twenty-somethings who were old and washed-up. I've known eighty-somethings who were vital and engaged.

I've enjoyed Paul McCartney ever since he epitomized youth culture. But he continues to be a creative force. His two most recent studio CDs--1997's Flaming Pie and 2001's Driving Rain--are among the most artistically satisfying ventures of his long career.

There are reasons to dislike McCartney's music. Sometimes, his lyrics veer into banal indecipherability. Sometimes, he believes so much in the power of random inspiration that he fails to be discerning about what he releases. And sometimes, he advocates things with which I disagree. But it makes no sense to reject him simply because he's sixty-two years old.

I don't want to overthrow youth culture. But let's leave some room at the cultural table for people of every age. After all, if things go well for her even Ms. Perky Anchor will be sixty-two some day.