Editor's
Opinion
Tito
Space
Flight
Helps
Fight
Prejudice
Towards
Seniors
By
Tucker
Sutherland
Editor,
Senior
Journal
Regular
readers
of
the
Senior
Journal
know
we
have
given
considerable
coverage
to
the
space
flight
of
60-year-young
Dennis
Tito.
His
feat
is
important
to
senior
citizens,
because
it
helps
to
erase
a
stigma
associated
with
older
people
that
concludes
-
without
facts
-
that
we
are
physically
and
mentally
inferior
to
younger
humans.
The
more
publicity
given
to
accomplishments
of
mental
and
physical
agility
by
senior
citizens
will
help
convince
the
world
we
are
not
automatically
inferior
due
to
aging.
It
is
a
distasteful
prejudice
that
hampers
our
opportunities
to
live
useful,
productive
and
happy
lives.
Recently,
a
funeral
director
insisted
that
as
a
pallbearer
I
take
the
middle
position
on
the
casket
because,
he
said,
"it
carries
less
weight."
It
was
the
second
time
that
week
that
someone
had
inferred
that
due
to
my
obvious
age
I
was
physically
weaker
than
younger
men.
My
60-plus
years
of
living
are
obvious,
I
guess,
because
I'm
bald
and
my
face
bears
a
few
wrinkles
of
an
active
outdoor
life.
The
slights
to
my
strength
have
nothing
to
do
with
my
physical
size
-
six
feet
tall,
almost
200
pounds.
And,
frankly,
they
have
little
to
do
with
reality.
I
am
a
competitive
tennis
player
and
regularly
compete
with
men
20
and
30
years
younger.
And,
as
an
activist
with
the
senior
games,
I
see
men
and
women
in
their
70's
and
80's
competing
well
on
the
tennis
court
and
in
many
other
athletic
endeavors.
We
all
regularly
see
senior
men
and
women
as
dynamic,
successful
leaders
in
business
and
other
organizations.
The
prejudice
against
senior
citizens
based
on
our
age
will
fade
as
more
of
the
accomplishments
of
our
peers
receive
attention.
At
the
Senior
Journal
we
will
continue
to
highlight
these
feats.
Let
us
know
about
seniors
you
know
or
see
in
your
community
that
can
help
erase
the
prejudice
against
us.
Removing
the
stigma
of
aging
will
benefit
us
all
and
make
the
world
a
better
place.
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