I have the greatest of respect for elderly men and women who continue to care about life, and I also have the greatest respect for those who give them outlets to do so. The "irrelevance" old people are consigned to is a self-fulfilling prophecy. I've seen this first-hand working in a nursing home. As soon as you start treating old people like they have no responsibility for their actions and nothing they do matters, except when it's an annoyance, you sentence them to a kind of living-death.
As my grandmother passed ninety, although I had to help her with more and more things, I always made sure not to do things for her that she could still do herself. It might have taken her longer to unbuckle her seatbelt or make herself a cup of tea, but she could still do it and the extra focus, effort and frustration, ultimately, were worth it.
I want to introduce you to Steve. He’s 83. His wife died a few months ago and he comes to this lodge in Spring Mill, Indiana and draws. He taught art in Terre Haute, IN his whole life. He also did courtroom sketches in court cases. In the comments I’ll share some pics from his sketchbook. He was excited when I said I was going to share his sketches with the world.