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As we age, is retirement a requirement? How long can we remain a viable contributor to the workplace? Does aging mean we are no longer productive? Does getting older mean we are destined for sickness and disability? On this episode of the Exploring Aging Podcast, Host Ray Sanders and Co-hosts, Dr. Bill Pierce and Greg McNeece, bust several myths about aging and share why they believe experience never gets old.
As we age, is retirement a requirement? How long can we remain a viable contributor to the workplace? Does aging mean we are no longer productive? Does getting older mean we are destined for sickness and disability? On this episode of the Exploring Aging Podcast, Host Ray Sanders and Co-hosts, Dr. Bill Pierce and Greg McNeece, bust several myths about aging and share why they believe experience never gets old.
Exploring Aging
Have you given much thought to retirement? How long do you plan on being active in the workforce? Does getting older mean you have less to offer? Does getting older mean you are destined to sickness and disability? What can you do to improve your likelihood of staying strong and vibrant?
Ray:We'll unpack these and other age related topics on this edition of the Exploring Aging Podcast. Welcome back everyone. I'm Ray Sanders, and you're listening to the Exploring Aging podcast. Along for the ride with me again today, my cohost, Doctor. Bill Pierce and Greg McNeese.
Ray:Thanks for being here guys.
Greg:It's good to be here.
Ray:It's always good to see you guys here in studio. And you know guys, I want to unpack a lot more on this whole idea of the myths that we're trying to bust. And there's a lot of misinformation out there as it relates to aging. You know, here on the Exploring Aging podcast, we're on a myth busting journey.
Bill:All right.
Ray:Did you guys know that you are Mythbusters? You guys have probably seen that series on the cable channels. But I think you guys are truly myth busters. And today, we are continuing our series on myths about aging. So myth number 3, we're gonna talk about today.
Ray:We talked about myth number 1 and myth number 2 on our last program. Today, myth number 3 is we're going to get a lot closer to this myth, and this myth is aging means you are no longer productive. Oh, that one has a little bit of sting in it. If it's true, there may be some folks in trouble. I know you guys are going to help unpack why you think that is a myth and we're going to bust it.
Ray:Have you guys ever seen the film, The Intern? Have you ever seen it?
Bill:I haven't seen it. I have
Greg:not either.
Ray:Well, you guys are missing out and I'm going to highly recommend it. There's a guy in the film, he's a 70 year old plus widower, approaching in his eighties, and he's played by Robert De Niro. I mean, you guys know who that is.
Bill:Yeah.
Ray:And he's a retired executive who fills an intern position, not a leadership position, an intern position and a growing and dynamic company. And he's assigned to a very young and successful CEO played by none other than Anne Hathaway. Pretty cool. Well, she's very skeptical. She's very skeptical about his ability to contribute to her company based on, are you ready for this Bill?
Bill:His age. No.
Greg:Yes. Ageism, here we go.
Ray:She's like, no ways. And so she and all of her coworkers, they're all a bunch of young folks. They're like, what is this guy doing here? And but ultimately, it's really fun movie. He wins her over and everyone else.
Ray:He saves the day preventing a major crisis and, in her life and in the life of the company. It's a really good movie. But the thing that caught my attention probably as much as anything is the subtitle. I think you guys are gonna love this, especially related to this myth. The subtitle of the movie, Experience Never Gets Old.
Ray:That's it. Isn't that awesome? That's true.
Bill:Makes me feel better.
Ray:When we're exploring aging, that's a great
Greg:That's a great headline.
Ray:I mean, we may need to take that as our own tagline, the Exploring Aging podcast where experience never gets old. That's it. But here here are the facts. Here are the facts. Many older adults continue to work well into their retirement.
Ray:I mean people are not they're not quitting. Now whether that's out of necessity or they simply want to work, they're just working longer. They're staying in the workforce. They're like Robert De Niro in this movie The Intern, you know, who says I have to hang it up? Right.
Ray:So what are your thoughts on myth number 3, aging means you are no longer productive.
Bill:We've talked about this before, but I think that the world sends older adults all kinds of signals about what they can and can't do. And if we listen to that, we're making a big mistake because life is all about choices. And just because you re reach some magic age that the world says is retirement age, you still have choices, and you have the choice to keep on working, change what you're doing, do something else that's productive, and more. All the studies are so showing that more and more older adults are remaining in the workforce by choice Mhmm. Because they they believe it's best for them, and they enjoy it, and they enjoy being productive.
Ray:Well, and they're bringing experience.
Bill:Yes.
Ray:You know, you can you can get book learning. You can go and get schooled. You can reach out to Google, but experience is something that only comes with time and, you know, having experienced things. And there's a lot of people out there that can save a lot of people a lot of pain, if people would just listen to the experiences that they've had.
Bill:Yeah. And I I don't mean to get too deep in the weeds here, Ray, but we have such a shortage of workers in our society today, and there are some people out there that could just come back into the worship and into the workforce and contribute in a great way. There are a lot of people who have skills that have retired, and they really wish they hadn't. They really don't have a lot to do, and they'd like to come back to work. And so I say, come back to work and and come be productive and come serve people.
Bill:In Baptist Village communities, that's true.
Ray:Mhmm.
Greg:You know, Ray, I would say there's a couple of things running through my mind right now is there are those folks who when they retire well, because we've said that that's such a ambiguous thing Sure. What that is. But so many are retiring and they don't have a purpose anymore. Oh, man. And I think when you They
Ray:have a purpose, they just don't know what They
Greg:just don't know what this. They forgot. They forgot. And so I love it when someone quote, quote, quote, retires and then they kinda have a new lease on life. Mhmm.
Greg:And they develop some new something that they do. And maybe they go to work part time or maybe it's just a volunteer thing, but they are fulfilling a purpose in their own life, and they find contentment in that. There are those who work, some of them because they they have to work financially. We live in a very our world is very expensive. And so being able to work later in life is a really is a blessing.
Greg:If they've got the ability to do that and they do it, some of it is because they have to, but some because they, as doctor Pierce said, they want to.
Bill:Mhmm.
Greg:And I'm grateful for those men and women who who stay plugged in because the experience of what they have have gained and what they teach for those of us who are younger, it's invaluable.
Bill:It
Greg:really is invaluable. I
Ray:think a lot of our older adults that maybe have not even considered retirement yet or maybe are retired, I would just say this, don't buy the lie. Don't buy the lie that you can't be productive. And here's what I would tell you, The young people that I'm around, and I have I have thirties and twenties now in my home, my kids. Whether it's me or my father-in-law who's in his eighties, can I just tell you, some people listening will know who I'm talking about, but there used to be a phrase when EF Hutton speaks People listen? People listen.
Ray:I don't know about you, but in my house, when one of the seniors or the older folks begin to speak, it's dead silence. And not only that, when they stop, they're then given questions. There's a lot to offer. When it comes to productivity, that's an interesting word. You may not be able to produce in terms of the way you used to, but the way you used to produce, if you would share how you were able to produce, now becomes productivity through others.
Ray:And they the ideas, the experiences you have can help a company, can help a church, can help an organization become more productive because you stayed engaged. Yes. You don't get a pass just because you passed 65.
Bill:Right. Right? So I was just serving the Lord.
Greg:I was about to say, when you look at pastors, and I'm just gonna take a blanket look at pastors. In in the state of Oklahoma, I'll just because that's where I'd see. We have a lot of older gentlemen who are still in the saddle, so to speak, pastoring a congregation. And they're 70 plus. And they're not stopping.
Greg:They're not slowing down. They are actively doing what it takes to breathe life into people and to the church. And so, there's great purpose in that, great value in that. And so those guys didn't they didn't stop. They didn't quote quote retire.
Greg:They may have retired from something else, but they picked up the helm and God uses using them as a pastor. I think about our our country. You think about not often to politics on a party, but you think about our president who's 80 years old, you think about the Senate, you think about the House, you have some members of both of those 2 legislative chambers that are several several who are 70 plus, and then you go to the 80 plus and there's still a good number of those. They didn't back off and go, oh, it's time to retire at 65 because that's what we're supposed to do.
Bill:Yeah.
Greg:So there's great insight there.
Ray:Does anybody come to mind for you guys? I know we've talked about a gentleman that that was very active in Sunday school. Does anybody come to mind that you think is just killing it? That is they're they're not slowing down. They're not getting any miles on their leg.
Ray:They are they're knocking it out of the park. They're they are involved in people's lives. Can I'll give you one and then you guys can be thinking. I ran a nonprofit for years, and he knows who he is. Some of you, if you hear his name, you will know who he is.
Ray:But there was a gentleman that we referred to as Colonel Wilson. And Colonel Wilson would show up about 3 to 4 times a week, and he basically I mean he was a colonel. I mean talk about a bright man. Right? A lot of skills.
Ray:But he would show up 3 or 4 times a week, and he took it upon himself, we weren't a very large nonprofit, to basically be in charge of our facilities. If we needed to be a remodel, the colonel was involved. If we needed to do something out in the shop, the colonel was involved. If we needed to, the colonel was involved. He was kind of our project manager in his late seventies, early eighties.
Ray:And can I tell you, I mean, the guy was as strong as an ox, he was mentally on top of his game? He's still around. We had lunch not too long ago, and he's still volunteering. He's doing other things. He's doing things with the veterans now.
Ray:But here's a guy, he has he has no worry about cash flow or anything like that, but he was still giving back and still active. I think too many people hang up their cleats. Do you guys have examples of people like that? I'm reason I'm saying that, reason I didn't bring it up, I think there's some people that are sitting out there going, maybe they they need to start hearing that Rocky music again. You know that music?
Ray:I'm not a singer, but it's
Bill:Yeah.
Ray:And if Rocky can make a comeback, there's a lot of senior adults that can make a comeback. And I know we're joking here, we keep referring to movies, but there's no reason. This myth absolutely busted because people are living longer, they're stronger than ever, and they have a desire they don't wanna quit.
Bill:I think there's a group that comes to mind for me that is so productive and so actively engaged in the ministry, and that's our Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief
Ray:Oh, no doubt.
Bill:Folks. And so they take on a mission. They take on a disaster, and they rush in, and they're they're prepared, they're trained, and they help people. And they are they are from anywhere from 60 years old to 80 something years old, and they do things I don't think I could do today every day.
Ray:Exactly.
Greg:You know, I'm amazed when I see that doctor Pierce's that chainsaw crew that those that they have with the disaster relief. I mean, those gentlemen, again, in their seventies eighties, running those chainsaws. I mean, that's hard work. I live out in the country, and a couple weeks ago, I've had some trees that need to come down. They weren't big in diameter, but after about 4 or 5, I was like, okay, I'm done.
Greg:Gonna save this for another day, another project. But those guys will give hours upon hours in difficult situations. There's been a disaster. They don't go for trees, go, oh, I think I'll go to the inside where it's cooler or inside where it's warmer, they're in there. So you're exactly right.
Greg:I think about, I think about in at First Baptist Muskogee, Oklahoma, Joanne Moran. Mhmm. Good friend. Good friend of yours. And I've known Joanne for years, but she's a lady who she she's not retired.
Greg:Now from a a job that she would go to to get a paycheck, yes. But, man, her her impact upon people still continues today, and she doesn't let
Bill:up. No. And I think, Greg, I think she's in her 58th year of being the kindergarten director at First Baptist Church Muskogee. 58 consecutive years. And so, Greg, you know what we say all the time.
Bill:This is something we really believe. The great commission is always the mission no matter how old you are, and spiritual gifts given to us by the holy spirit are for all of life, not part of life.
Ray:Yeah. Very well said. Very well said. Well, you guys know I like to tease a little bit about retirement, and I have my own way of referring to it. I saw a meme recently that probably has more to do with financial planning than retirement, but I just thought I'd share it.
Ray:It seemed appropriate here. It is and and in some ways it's funny, but it's sad in other ways. The meme said, I keep hearing people talk about what they're going to do when they retire. It says, I'm going to have to work right up to lunch on the day of my funeral. That's probably somebody who's having to keep working out of necessity and that's not too funny.
Ray:But some days I feel like that with 6 kids and 9 grandkids,
Bill:Right.
Ray:If I keep paying for Christmas the way I'm paying for Christmas, I'm gonna have to work up to lunch the day of my funeral.
Bill:That is funny, but in a in a on a serious note, as we live longer, working longer is something we really need to think about, because, preparing for those older years. And, you know, the statistics show and, you know, this does not talking about any individual, but the statistics show that if you live to be 70 years old, a man or a woman, is likely to live between 80 5 90 years old.
Ray:If you live to 70
Bill:you have to be 70. If you reach the age of 70
Greg:I have not heard of yours. You are
Bill:likely to live to be 85 to 90 depending on whether you're a man or a woman. Yep.
Ray:Does pickleball play into that?
Greg:Yeah. Pickleball. Yes.
Bill:Let's back to that exercise, drinking water, and a good diet.
Ray:If you've got a bottle in one hand That's right. And a pickle ball A
Greg:bottle of water.
Ray:A bottle of oh, yeah. A bottle of water.
Bill:Thank you, Greg.
Greg:You
Ray:got a bottle of water in one hand and a pickleball in the other, you're gonna live to be a 100. That's exactly right. That's funny. That's so frightening.
Greg:Well, and that and that's important for us to to think through. We absolutely see people thriving when they don't just kinda let up. And it's it's so true. So true.
Ray:So what are you guys thoughts on this topic of retirement? You know, ITs, I don't like to call it retirement. Maybe this is because of my age and I'm getting closer to retirement. I don't know that I'll ever quit, and I like to call it retreading. I mean people call it retiring.
Ray:That's fine. I'm not saying you don't retire. We need to retire. You've earned it. Right?
Ray:But in in my my hyperactivity, my energy, I think I've said this before, my wife has told my kids, your dad's biggest problem is, you know, he's a 6 year old with a 25 year old living inside him.
Greg:Good.
Ray:And, and, you know, I I think I'm gonna be retreading. But what are your what are your thoughts on it? Any any thoughts on retirement in general?
Bill:Well, I don't like the word either.
Ray:Okay.
Bill:And, so we one definition of the word retirement is to be put on a shelf. Oh. Taken out of service. Oh. And so those those phrases hurt.
Bill:Oh. And nobody really wants to be taken out of service or put on a shelf. So I don't like the word either. I remember something that my dad told me, after he retired, and he he said he that he retired too early. He should have worked longer.
Bill:And I said, why? Why do you feel that way? Doesn't everybody wanna retire? Doesn't everybody wanna quit working and kick back? And he says, the reason I should've worked longer is nothing to do.
Bill:I don't have anything to do. And and and that was not true at all. This this guy was bowling every week. This guy was active in his church. This guy was on the auxiliary police in in Muskogee.
Bill:And so he had lots to do, and he was he was very active. But he wish he would have played it a different way when he thought back on it.
Ray:Well, I have an uncle who lived to be 90. And everybody was always trying to get uncle Jack to retire. And we later found out that he continued to work because he wanted to, but then he ended up paying for a lot of, young people's education.
Bill:Yeah.
Ray:He he thought, why? I can make you know, you can make some money and I can pay for their education. Yeah. Talk about purpose.
Greg:Yes. Right.
Bill:That was his ministry of of service.
Greg:Right. Yeah.
Ray:What are you gonna say, Greg? You know,
Greg:kind of on that retreading idea, I think there is some unbelievable opportunity to retread. And when we retread, I think about like my mother, who's retired from the nursing profession. And now she goes and volunteers at the hospital back in my hometown. So what does she bring to that? Not only does she bring extra hands, but she brings someone who understands medical terminology, medical issues, the experience.
Greg:So she's bringing and giving back to the hospital, something they couldn't they may not be able to pay for that, but they get it as a volunteer. I think about my mother-in-law who years of serving within skills of organization and how to run business meetings and how to run board meetings and all that kind of stuff. So the retreading, I mean, that's a huge deal because there are other organizations that need people with experience who know how to do it well, and they can come in. So, there's huge value in retreading, in that.
Ray:Well, I can promise you they know when she doesn't come in to work.
Greg:Sure.
Ray:They recognize it. Right. I know she's not there. So she's bringing things of value to that organization. Okay, myth number 3 down.
Ray:You guys up for myth number 4?
Greg:Let's go. All right.
Ray:All right. This is another myth that I've heard floating around out there. Aging means you are more sickly and disabled. I mean nobody likes being sick, certainly no one wants to be disabled, but being sick and being disabled can happen at any age. So why is this a myth that we need to bust?
Greg:I think I think culture says because you're older, you can't do as much. You can't, you've used up whatever you've had, your battery's low or whatever the case may be. But I'm just going you know what? That's that's not true. When we can see older adults who, as we said early earlier today, they may not be able to go as long in a workday, but, man, those hours that they are going, they are contributing in a major kind of way.
Greg:They've got the ability. Their work ethic is so much stronger than if we talk about younger cohorts of people. They wanna they wanna get in there and they wanna they wanna make something productive of their day and so they're hard workers. And so to being able to say, you know what, if I'm able to do it, I'm certainly gonna bust the idea that everybody is sick and everybody is not able to serve and to do.
Ray:I would dare say because they are active, because they are involved, they're not gonna be sick. Exactly. You know? But it can happen to anybody at any time. If if the pandemic taught us anything, we all have the potential, you know, no matter what our age, to, to become sickly.
Ray:Mhmm. And it's it's not necessarily related to age per se. I mean, being sick is something that we all can be victimized with, and same way with being disabled. Were you gonna say something, Bill?
Bill:Yeah. Ray, I was gonna say that this idea of using assistive devices, we sometimes look at people who are using a cane or using a walker or using a wheelchair, and we make assumptions about their life. We we we make assumptions that there are things that they can't do. And, and and we need to understand that you know, I'm looking over at Greg, and he's got glasses on, and you've got glasses on, Ray, and I've got glasses on. And we need to understand that we start using assistive devices much earlier in life than we think we do.
Bill:And I do wanna say that I I feel for people who are experiencing great challenges in their health, And you can that can happen at at any age, as you've already said. And I admire people who, even though they have barriers and even though they have big challenges, that they still participate in the world in a big way. They still are very social and very active, and they don't let those things stop them in living their life.
Ray:Well, I think the point here is that it's not necessarily attached to age.
Greg:Right. Mhmm.
Ray:That sickness and disability, they operate it operates across the board. I mean, we can all think of I mean, I have a daughter, if you want to call this sickly, but she has a chronic disease. I mean, she suffers from type 1 diabetes. I mean, was that because she was old? No.
Greg:No. She was 3.
Ray:Mhmm. Okay. Is that a disability? I think it is because it puts certain limitations on her. So it's not necessarily age related.
Ray:So we need to get this out of our head that just because we're older means that we're sickly or disabled. That's not necessarily the case.
Bill:You know, Ray, I've got to say a word about my grandfather. He, he lived to be 103 years old. Holy cow. When he was 87, I told him he was old, and he laughed at me. And he was in the hospital one time in his life when he was in his eighties, and he had his appendix removed.
Bill:And he lived a very healthy life right up to 103 years old.
Ray:103. Goodness. What what did he do? I'm curious.
Bill:Well, he again, he would tell you now this is real this is this I'm not making this up about water, Ray. He would tell you that after every meal, he drank a tall glass of water, and he walked a lot.
Ray:What was his career?
Bill:He was a farmer. Oh. Yeah. Wow. Barber and rancher.
Ray:That's awesome.
Bill:In the McGee Valley near Atoka, Oklahoma. Man. Stringtown, Oklahoma.
Ray:That's outstanding. That's that's really a cool story. Well, hey, guys. I hate to tell you this. We're gonna have to retire this episode.
Ray:But, Bill,
Bill:we're gonna have to We're gonna retread it.
Greg:We're gonna retread it.
Ray:That's that's We're gonna put it on the shelf. Oh, I don't know. Well, did I just say that? Well, you you know what I mean. Well, you know, I do think if I've learned anything today is the experience never gets old.
Ray:I love that line. Experience never gets old. And if you'd like to learn more about today's topics or if you would love to visit one of the Baptist Village Communities, then why not reach out to us? Give us a call, 866-887-2872, or visit them online at baptistvillage.org. Hey, you know, you might even see Greg or Bill out there.
Ray:I saw you guys out there recently. And you can catch this podcast on all your favorite platforms. Simply search for the Exploring Aging Podcast. Greg, Bill, until next time. You guys stay active and you stay informed as we explore the realities of aging on the Exploring Aging podcast.