I was ready to beg my professor and university for an Incomplete this morning. This would have been "old Jack" behavior but I simply could not anticipate writing academic essays and a research paper this week while I keep flashing on the torture my Dad, his wife, us kids, and many others endured. Dad had the worst of it, of course. However, he is free now and he suffered horribly but not for as long as some do.
This evening I was lying in bed and thinking I should just get that incomplete even though my professor has been very understanding and I have worked hard to get the A I currently own. Still, I wanted to take some time off and finish up after I had the opportunity to meditate, visit with Dad on the astral plane, and watch some really bad films on a streaming movie service I use. I also thought I would use that time to reach out to Dad's wife, our relatives, and spend some life-affirming time with my nieces and nephews. I have found that when my cup is empty, time with my nephew, older niece, and younger niece fills that cup up. Then I have something to give to my friends, my friend with Alzheimer's, and the guys who ram their cart into mine in line at the grocery. Also, I figured I could use this time to apologize for the fight I picked with my brother earlier in the day.
Just as I was ready to blow off tonight's coursework and take the hit point-wise, I received a call from one of my cousins. We talked about my Dad (of course) but somehow God put words in her mouth that made me feel like I COULD keep going with school and that Dad would want this for me. After our call, I got out of bed (or off of futon to be more accurate) and I wrote my assignment. I have written better assignments but I am amazed that this one was written at all. Since Dad's illness progressed and then overtook him, I have had difficulty finding the energy to do things like urinate or order pizza (I KNOW so STOP), or to organize my collection of stamps from countries whose names begin with the letter "R". You should see my Romania book! Wow! Okay, I made up that part about my stamp collection. I wanted to feel charismatic and interesting for a moment.
What follows is the paper I just submitted as a direct result of God working through a flesh and blood person (my cousin). This is not my best work. The miracle here is not that I created a great work of art. The miracle is that I wrote SOMETHING. Thank you Dad, thank you source, thank you Wendy, sorry Marty and Nat---
Since many fellow learners have already discussed the differences between the concepts of fluid and crystallized intelligences, I will not re-define these terms/concepts. I will refer to them as statements of fact since fellow learners have written extensively and have provided impressive information and have cited references concerning these different categories of intelligence.
Our journey through developmental stages has finally arrived at my destination. This is where I get off. I know the shops and the street because this is where I live. At 47, I am a middle adult. I would prefer that someone come up with a more interesting and marketable name for those of us who fit in this category; perhaps something like “inordinately average adults with marked displays of wisdom”. Unfortunately, that phrase has a bit too much glitter and fireworks. So yes, I am a middle adult and I have experienced some of the cognitive changes we have read about this week.
First, I am a little slow. Apparently this is not an uncommon manifestation of cognitive withering among middle adults. Schaie (1996, as cited in Crandell, Crandell, & Vander Zanden, 2009) performed and reported on a series of tests intended to isolate intelligence ability. Although many aspects of intelligence were studied, it was found that middle adults demonstrated a slowing of performance in only one area: speed of performance.
This supports my anecdotal and personal experience in the work place. Younger workers were much faster than those of us whose age places us in the middle adult category. The younger folks were able to input data faster. They could toggle more quickly between various software systems. They even made decisions a bit quicker as to what they would eat for lunch. In other words, their fluid intelligence gave them the ability to make quicker decisions and perform some job-related tasks more efficiently.
This fluidity provided younger coworkers a clear edge during annual reviews and allowed them to impress mangers with their apparently superior ability to demonstrate “sense of urgency” which was always an extremely important phrase used by most managers I have had. I assume this skill also allows younger adults to decide on which movie to choose a bit faster while on dates and enables them to text faster while the movie is playing. This apparent surplus of fluid skills probably makes it easier to respond to the needs of children more quickly while simultaneously doing laundry, coursework, and other duties which should be performed by each member of a couple regardless of sex. That issue should be the subject of another essay.
Secondly, I look to history and poorly documented websites for evidence of how middle (and older) adults can use the experience that comes with age to produce great works of art; the kinds of works that younger, less-experienced (albeit more “fluid”) younger adults cannot produce. Crandell, Crandell, and Vander Zanden (2009) provide me with some hope in this regard (as long as I focus on the latter part of their comments) regarding expert performance when they write “…in novel writing, history, and philosophy the optimal ages are in the forties and fifties” (p. 510). As a budding author and life-long fan of philosophy, this does give me some advantages both in the work place and at home. For one thing, I write great emails to managers. These notes are well-structured, poetic, and also professional. Additionally, I use this concept of "the middle adult maintaining expert performance skills" each time I dust off or move my novel (rather slowly) from one drawer to another. We all exhibit various levels of proficiency in cognitive skill regardless of where we fall along the path of the life span.
I tend to prefer giving in-depth analysis on studies which emphasize that while middle adults may not be able to input data or decide on the film for the evening as quickly or efficiently as our younger acquaintances or coworkers, we may have an advantage when it comes to understanding and producing works of literature and treatises on philosophy. At least this is something. Family relationships improve in that while I may text my family members very slowly, what I have to say may be of some philosophical, historical, or artistic merit. Jack
References
Crandell, T. L., Crandell, C. H., & Vander Zanden, J. W. (2009). Human development (9th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. ISBN: 9780073370422.
You have managed to bring a tear and a chuckle and a punch to the gut all in one post. Kudos! As "a woman of a certain age" I can relate to the slowing of my mind, but I prefer to think that these waters still run deep. Many of my employees are younger than me and occasionally seek out my experience to help them with whatever is challenging them at the time. And at this point in our lives, THAT is our gift. We have some of the answers. Maybe not all, but our lives before now have taught us enough to help others. We are still young enough that we can be relevant (maybe? HA? slightly?) and have not yet sunk to the depths of "back in my day" cronyisms.
ReplyDeleteSo, today....I say to you that you have my love and all the strength I can send to you. We may be sitting in a drawer all dusty, but we are useful and able to teach. (And I should know, becase you teach me everytime you write. Thank you.)