“Age is just a number. How you take care of your body determines your true age.”
That was something Lemar Koethe, the founder of 7 Flags Fitness Center, the once-popular health club on 100th Street in Clive, told me in the 1990s. I tried to get Lemar to run an ad with his photo and this quote as the headline at the time, as he was proud of how fit he was for his age. He said I was trying to play up to him. He was right. But it was a great quote, and it would have been a great ad.
But is age just a number? Not according to many programs that seem guilty of age discrimination. Senior citizen discounts are one. Kids-eat-free campaigns are another. So are any other programs that offer special pricing for people based solely on age.
Many of our laws also appear to discriminate based on age. Is it OK to require a person to be a minimum age to be able to do something, but not require the same person to quit doing that activity at a later age?
Here in Iowa, we have to be 16 to obtain a driver’s license, but there is no age when we are required to quit driving. We have to be 18 to access our right to vote, but we are not stripped of this right at any age. We have to be 21 to legally purchase alcohol, but we can keep buying pints of vodka well into our 90s. You may appropriately argue that many older people are still capable of participating in all of these activities. Agreed. But aren't many people who are younger than the minimum ages capable, too? And if these laws don't’ discriminate based on age, then what does?
You can use science to support this argument, to some degree. Numerous studies show that the human brain does not fully develop until age 25. If that is so, using the current logic, then why do our laws allow anyone younger that 25 to drive, vote or buy alcohol? Numerous studies also show that cognitive decline most often occurs at age 70 or older. If that is true, using the same current logic, why should anyone older than 70 be able to drive, vote or buy alcohol?
I am being silly, of course, but our age-restrictive laws and offers are debatable, to say the least. Meanwhile, don’t expect any changes soon, as only one thing can be certain. At the end of the day, Lemar was right. Age is just a number.
Have a fantastic Friday, and thank you for reading.
Shane Goodman
President and Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305 | 
