Must Millennials Become “Old” at 42?

Baby Boomers know they’re old when MILLENNIALS start thinking they are old … and, THAT, we’re told, supposedly happens when one enters 4th decade. Whatever happened to “Youth Is Forever” so long as your head’s in right place?

The WSJ piece by Clare Ansberry didn’t shoot for exactitude when noting “Millennials are starting to feel old.” Rather, she opined in terms of batting averages: “The first members of the millennial generation, often classified as those born between about 1980 & 1996, begin to turn 43 this year. It’s the average age when Americans stop feeling young,” at least, according to a study by Worldwide Independent Network of Market Research. Ansberry says the early 40s – 42 to be a tad more exact, is when average Joes & Janes “start noticing physical signs of aging, including achy joints & gray hair; again, at least, according to a September poll conducted on behalf of Found, a weight-management company.

Dunno. True, this Baby Boomer started noticing his own generational gap when, around the Big 4-0, I started being disgusted with my kids’ music … just as my father showed disgust over my Beatles’ music. But, trust me, the “physical signs” of getting older … out of shape wheezing, beer belly, loss and/or gain of hair in various geographic locations, needing glasses to drive, etc … started almost as soon as I graduated college. But, know what? I still think the Old School philosophy about youth being forever was well-captured by Doug Hutchinson & still holds true. That is, when he once quipped “being in love with life is a key to eternal youth”. Yeah, Muhammad Ali was also more right than wrong when he said: “Age is whatever you think it is. You are as old as you think you are.” And, I, for one, still feel pretty young.

Davd Soul