Carl Hoffman is 92 years young. GOD only knows if he has an amazing life span due to his genetics, his view of the world or his ability to ebb and flow with change. Friday he was the first in his town to acquire the new Apple I-Phone 5. His daughter, Jill Shoop 52 year’s young, and one of my best friends sent me a link to this story and laughed and shook her head.
Just last night, I struggled with updating an app on my I-Phone and my 10 year old daughter had to assist me. What does that say about me? A curiosity to evolve, to connect to keep up certainly keeps us on our toes but to examine generations hunger for technology and their ability to embrace it…is that what keeps a person young?
My kudzu mom, Jonell Kirby Cash 83 year’s young, is a technology wizard. Well…I haven’t seen her writing code but she has her hands on a new electronic toy every time I see her! She has three computers that I know of, an I-Pad, a portable scanner and the last time I checked she had a barcode logged in her name and was accepting credit cards on her reader! In other words…she embraces change.
Stereotypes exist when we observe one slice of a population exhibit a trait and repeat it over and over again. In some cases this can be a healthy classification in other cases not so much. It is heartwarming to stereotype people over 70 as “wise” and not productive to label all seniors as “stuck in their ways”. Carl Hoffman and Jonell Kirby Cash dispel stereotypes. Carl doesn’t fly planes anymore but he is still making the news. Jonell is not a college professor anymore but she just published her first work of fiction “A Ring A Dance A Second Chance”.
I did update the app on my phone and I even learned how to do Pinterest this week. ( I know that is “so last week” but I got on board) Ironically, my friend Jill is the marketing director for a senior living center in Athens Georgia and tells me weekly about the joys of working with people wiser than herself One day last week she was telling me about their awards night …the video is on YouTube for all to enjoy!
Read more about Jonell Kirby Cash Author of “A Ring A Dance A Second Chance” at
Andrea Williams
Managing Editor of A Public Relations Company