Don't you love it when one of your cherished ideas is validated by experience? I do.

As I have aged, or mellowed, or matured—you choose—I have often found myself bumping against prejudices against the "older" members of society. I excuse the very young for whom anyone over the age of 18 is already halfway to pasture, but our society seems unable to reap the full benefits of those of us who have both life experience and energy as well.

Freud was recently quoted on the OP-ED page of the NY Times: "Old people are no longer educable." Is that so?

I was recently doing errands on foot in uptown Kingston when a longtime acquaintance offered me a ride. He was the father of four young people I had taught more than 20 years ago. A retired IBMer, he still continued to run marathons in record times. This day, dressed in suit and tie, he told me how he was on his way to the local community college where he taught a computer class three days a week.

"I enjoy it," he said, "and I've noticed that you haven't retired either." I agreed that I had only been "recycled" as I put it. We both laughed ruefully at the fact that we were still working at ages when our grandparents were dead.

He went on to muse about the memory he had of being a child and seeing men of 60 getting ready for the golden watch that signified retirement, after which they sat on the porch with their wives who all seemed to have blue hair. "And then," he said, "they just disappeared. That was all."

We now see older Americans everywhere, from the boards of local charities to volunteer tutoring to suddenly raising grandchildren whose parents are serving overseas. Not all of this is imitable but it is part of the fabric of today's society.

Last night I said a heartfelt farewell to a favorite bible student of mine, now almost 90, who has decided to retire to Iowa after an active musical career in New York. My class will not be the same without his ever pertinent questions. His older body in no way inhibited his nimble mind.

We are a force to be reckoned with. And we need to shape our future. This merits further thought.