Just about any way you cut it, I’m a Senior Citizen — pick any criteria you want and I qualify. So I figure today is my day. On August 19, 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed Proclamation 5847 declaring August 21 as National Senior Citizens Day. Prior to 1988, some people celebrated Senior Citizens Day on August 14 because that was the day President Franklin roosevelt signed the Social Security Act (in 1935.)
But in 1988, President Reagan made it official — as he put it, “Throughout our history, older people have achieved much for our families, our communities, and our country. That remains true today and gives us ample reason this year to reserve a special day in honor of the senior citizens who mean so much to our land.” So now, every year you have an opportunity to appreciate my contribution. And — I have an opportunity to take it easy and be celebrated.
When you stop to think about it, it’s a wonder I ever got to be a senior citizen…
I rode in cars with no seat belts, no car seats, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes. And I remember going lots of places riding in the back of a pick-up truck.
I don’t remember childproof lids on medicine bottles in our bathroom, or locks on cabinet doors… I rode my bike wearing a baseball cap, no helmet. I played outside — pretty much all day long in the summer — I didn’t have Play Stations, X-boxes or Nintendo’s — or — computers, DVDs, radios, cell phones — but — I had friends and I usually found them outside. I had a BB gun and, even though I was told many times that it would happen, I didn’t shoot my eye out. I ate dirt and survived.
I had a different kind of freedom than kids have today — I had failures, successes and responsibilities and somehow I learned to deal with it all….
So feel free to have a drink with me today, on my day.
— 30 —