The power and assertive years ( approx. 30 to 45 )

caliber

My personal observation is that these (30-45) years are the coming together of physical, emotional and mental power, a time when

most reach the desire , confidence and need to speak out to speak out about all injustice they see around them.

My personal opinion is that after reaching this stage in life you mellow out in your 50's . I make this claim by personal life experience

and observation of people even on this board . I feel a person becomes more accepting and less assertive after this age group

Please I wish to hear your thoughts !

jgnat

I don't FEEL like I'm past my prime, LOL! I'm just getting started. How about a mellow activist? I figure if I'm not ticking people off all the time, I get more out of them.

caliber

jgnat.... he he he .... there you go .. "A mellow activist " there is more measured caution and thought as to outcome

and gentle persuasion involved right ?

jgnat

You got it, buddy. It can be sly persuasion; not always gentle. A shove in the right direction before they know they are off balance.

I caught the tail end of the movie, Gandhi, where a simple salt demonstration forced Britain's hand. They were forced to grant independence. A seemingly small gesture with great significance. It had to be a mature genius to come up with such a plan.

doofdaddy

On somes points I agree but I have found my voice in later life(I am nearly 55). I battle to keep my mouth shut at meetings etc, as my bulls+++t detecter has become sharper in my fifties. Physically, I am just as active as ever. Must have good genes.

Band on the Run

So many of the Founding Fathers played key roles in defining the Constitution and Revolutionary Generation in their older years. Gandhi was no spring chicken - maybe in So. Africa but not in India.

I believe I learned skills as I aged to buffer my presentations so that I could actually achieve something concrete rather than a raised revolutionary fist. My core is the same as ever. The Witnesses are a good example. I used to fight with them when they came to my door. My reaction was almost as bad as their presumption that they know more than I do. Now I smile and gently encourage them to read a Bible without Witness aid.

Of course, this winds me up. I heard so much antiCatholic venom growing up. They make the Vatican look like a scientific convention of open-minded scholars.

jgnat

One of my favorite activists, Florence Nightingale, follows your pattern. She is best known for her work while in her thirties and forties. But she continued to be a major inflluence and mentor in her later years, even though bedridden.

Betty Friedan is another of my heroines, and she really came in to her own after publishing her book, The Feminine Mystique, when she was forty-two. But she remained active and inflluential for the rest of her life until her death at eighty-six.

Perhaps when we reach our fifties we have the chance to be more effective influencers and mentors. Our society worships the youth too much, I think. There is so much we can do as we mature.

tenyearsafter

I'd like to think that when I reached my 50's, I chose my battles more carefully...I think when we are younger, we end up tilting windmills by taking on every issue.

caliber

tenyearsafter .. so true(choosing battles) it's like the expression "place your blows so as not to be striking the air", with the expression in my title

I didn't mean to infer that after 45 you have no power, just that it is not the same "raw power " .. a person is more reflective and

cautious and as many have stated in above posts , "great influence" can be achieved in senior years Thanks for all your thoughts everyone !

The power and assertive years ( approx. 30 to 45 )

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