Posted 8-21-19
Warning: this may be a little odd and different than the normal piece. Just sayin’.
First of all, have you ever wondered why is something is said to be “for the birds”? Thank you very much Mr. Internet for saving me three hours of searching at the library. 🙂 If I ever convert this little bloggie-poo into a big boy book, I will give Mr. Internet a big shout out.
According to Phrases.org:
“This phrase is of American origin and, while still in use there, has never been commonly used elsewhere. It is US Army slang and originated towards the end of WWII. An early example of its use is this piece from The Lowell Sun, October 1944, in an interview with a Sergt. Buck Erickson, of Camp Ellis, Illinois:
“Don’t take too seriously this belief that we have football at Camp Ellis solely for the entertainment of the personnel – that’s strictly for the birds. The army is a winner… the army likes to win – that’s the most fortunate thing in the world for America.”
‘Strictly’ is frequently used as an intensifier, as in the example above.
‘That’s for the birds’ is a shortened form of the vulgar version ‘that’s <$^&@> (poop) is for the birds’. That suggests the derivation of the phrase which is the habit of some birds of pecking at horse droppings (a.k.a. road apples) in order to find seeds. Both versions were defined in an edition of American Speech from 1944:
That’s for the birds. It’s meaningless
<$&*#> for the birds. Nonsense, drivel, irrelevant matter.Said another way from the same reference:
What’s the meaning of the phrase ‘For the birds’?
Trivial; worthless; only of interest to gullible people.
It is interesting how knowing the actual definition of a phrase points to the fact that we use whatever definition we want for phrases these days. I guess living in a postmodern culture that has forced us to believe that there are no absolutes/right or wrong, so I can use “for the birds” however I want. I am not an exempt. I have always heard that “for the birds” is just a derogatory phrase for having to do something or go somewhere that you don’t want to. Perhaps it is boring or hard or annoying?
So, is aging “trivial; worthless; only of interest to gullible people” or nonsense, drivel, irrelevant matter”? I say, wholeheartedly, no! No, you stinking culture, NO!
(A Severe Rant/Get Off My Lawn You Kids!! Warning has been issued for Digital Cornbread County until 8pm. Take cover immediately!)
Why has culture, of all types and categories, decided that anyone over 48 years and one month and 12 days old is irreverent? Trivial? Worthless? I have a couple of answers since I am at the above cutoff right… as of today.
- Seniors, as a category, don’t gripe, “%$#@# and moan” like other groups do. They do not spend time asking for much more than their senior discount at Denny’s. They have lived through tough times and are “doing just fine” even when they are NOT. There are exceptions…
- Seniors are fiercely brand loyal. Fiercely. People under the 48 year one month and 12 day category tend to be “whatever sounds good or looks good online” loyal about most things. This plays out in many human interactions these days. Here is one example: Politicians, sometimes seniors themselves, know that seniors aren’t as likely to jump around between parties. Therefore funding for senior programs struggles and declines. In Missouri our funding for Area Agencies on Aging, even with the modest boost in the last legislative session, struggles to keep up with George W. Bush levels. Meanwhile schools get enormous boosts and are funded from dozens of little carve-outs that cannot be touched lest every 3rd grader in town lobby his/her mom to vote for the bond or against the candidate who “cut” their funding. I worked in schools for 10 years and appreciate deeply the challenge to educate, but they are doing fine. Seniors are not. In fact, SeniorAge relies on donations to even scratch the surface of the actual need and runs an extremely lean ship.
- Life itself is valued less and less by a culture that seems to love death-related things. I am not only talking about abortion (although that is an example), but it seems like we are very nonchalant (almost flippant) about the topic and it is bad for culture. Video games and movies have become darker and darker and, while I will stop short of blaming them for mass shootings and other terrible things, the results have had a negative effect on our collective conscience. In other nations with seared consciences, euthanasia becomes the law quite quickly and the culture of death screams to put someone down like a dog when they cease to be worth more than they cost culture or when they just grow tired of living. (I am NOT talking about last directives/living wills and other concepts designed to allow a terminally ill person to drift away to heaven gently. I am talking about essentially killing those who likely don’t want to die or are not in a place emotionally to make this decision) Here are some shocking stats…
- Seniors are often financially better off than the younger generations. They merely retire into communities of more seniors, often in Florida, the Southwest or the like. They become disengaged in influencing a culture that devalues them (see the cycle?), and are content to live out the rest of their lives playing golf or sewing.
- The nursing home culture has also contributed greatly to this devaluing of seniors although it too is a cycle. Prior to the 1980’s, there were nursing homes, but often they were ran like behavioral health hospitals, equipped with chemical and/or physical restraints designed to keep seniors in their care “safe” until they pass away, then the family would get a postcard or a call letting them know. They were uninviting places of death, but they were utilized less than today since many families would keep elderly family members with them after it was too dangerous for their health to have them alone on the farm or in town.
- A failure in the local church structure is also to blame. In the interest of “bringing in young families with kids” and being a ultru-pragmatic, Hyper-Arminian in technique, many churches pushed seniors out with lasers, fog machines, and a dog and pony show when they were needed the most for their wisdom. Whatever it takes to get people to come, do it! (Unless you are a senior who sometimes cannot serve as much any more). Theology was kicked to the curb. If wisdom comes with age and experience, which I believe is the case for the most part, this critical institution has shoved seniors out in far too many cases and seniors have been harmed in status because of it.
- Technology has left many seniors behind. Technology drives culture these days, like it or not, and seniors haven’t grown up using it like the younger generations, so they are left behind and devalued. Who cares that their generation built huge, still standing churches, monuments, wonders of the world, we built Pokemon Go!!! This disparity is something I work on trying to improve however I can as tech director (among other things) at SeniorAge. Tech savvy does NOT equal worth, regardless what culture says. I do my very best to make as much time as possible for tech training and shortcuts to improve seniors’ experience in tech.
- Looking older is shunned and fought violently with chemical, surgery, and any other means. Youth is valued, aging is devalued. (Maybe a chicken/egg dilemma)
- Aging tends to make us less flexible in a changing culture.
- A throwaway culture doesn’t buy/honor/expect things that last. We buy from mass retailers, then buy it again next year. We marry one person this year, another next year and an inanimate object the one after that. We fill the landfills and the ocean bottom with junk that we bought thinking it would bring joy, then gave up on it. Why not give up on a person of age?
- There are many other reasons too and I am sure you have some as well.
Now for the important part:
Seniors, we need you! I need you! Mom needs you! The Sweet 17 needs you! Don’t give up on a culture that may think aging is for the birds. We need one more round of fighting the Nazis or fighting Communism from you. You are the keeper of experience that a brilliant young and often misguided generation needs as a curb and a guide. Your Christianity, or at least respect for Christian values, is sorely missing in culture. Your prayer, while still effective while wearing white pants in Tampa, is “more effective” within a culture that needs to hear it and see what it has done for you in the past. Never have you been less irrelevant or “for the birds” than you are in 2019! Don’t give up.
How can you load up your bird shot and change this culture? Here are some tips of how you can help:
- Stay. Please stay. Please. (Dead horse beating coming). Don’t move away.
- Pray for our culture and for the local church.
- Invest in young people and people my age.
- Mentor your kids and grandkids more than ever.
- Don’t leave your church. Keep serving and being an example.
- Teach a Bible study in your church.
- Show a younger neighbor how to garden or budget money or parent or handle adversity.
- Be an ombudsman for the Sweet 17 and some of the millions like them in America who need a voice when they have none! Swing by the senior center or comment with contact info if you need more info than this link.
- Visit a nursing home and play the piano or play your guitar. Perhaps read from the Bible or sing.
- Advocate for seniors, especially those with dementia
- Join me or someone else in our Walk to End Alzheimer’s and/or donate to a team
- Give to your local senior center/Area Agency on Aging and to the Alzheimer’s Association.
- Get involved in a senior center. There are volunteer opportunities as well as wellness and enrichment classes in addition to the many traditional senior center services (meals).
- Take a computer class. Learn how to safely use a computer to avoid scams and then show someone else. Contact me if you need help.
- Demonstrate aging well and dying with honor and dignity. Nothing is a more beautiful picture of Christianity than fighting the hardships of aging with a smile and strong resolve, then dying in peace.
- Leave a legacy of love, wisdom, and experience. For whatever ill technology has done for society, it has also made leaving your wisdom behind easier than ever.
- I repeat, please…don’t give up. 🙂
- Help us end Alzheimer’s.
Update: Mom is still having issues with sores. (3 now). I feel so bad for her being stuck in the same position for so long. (I am an antsy person anyway…). We are working with the medical team to get it treated better. The symptoms of dementia, using my definition and not culture’s, are certainly for the birds…
#EndALZ