So there we were, typing away, unthinkingly, like little bobby-socked robots, “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country,” over and over again, faster and faster each time. We were in high school, learning how to become proficient typists (to what end? to be secretaries to CEOs one day soon?) at a time when the word “men” meant Everybody and the word “women” was always in the shadows. 

We were young and unquestioning then. We didn’t ask what “come to the aid of their country” was supposed to mean. After all, we were Americans, and our great country certainly didn’t need aid!

(Stock photo)

Who came up with that line, anyway? We never asked. I’ve just learned it was created as a typing exercise by a man named Charles E. Weller and published in his popular book THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE TYPEWRITER in 1918. Originally, the line read, “…come to the aid of their party,” but with the advent of WWII, the “country” version became more popular and was included in many typing exercise books.

 (Stock photo)

Well, today – now — I’d like to revise that line for my purposes here. My crie de coeur goes like this: Now is the time for all good older women to come to the aid of the world. If only all of us could or would type and retype this line into our smartphones or laptops or iPads, or embroider the words on a frameable sampler, so they’d stick. 

Why? Because the world as we knew it in our innocent, unquestioning, bobby-socked days no longer exists. Our beloved old bright-and-shiny democracy, which we blithely took for granted, appears to be tearing at the seams. And we older women, I maintain, are in an enviable position to DO something about these immanent ruptures. Not, maybe, as individuals, but collectively — if we each claim our superpowers as older, wiser women to effect positive changes.

The emphasis, of course, must be on the word “good,” because it feels to me like we’re living in the middle of a dramatic morality play these days – good versus evil – and evil is definitely dominating the stage. This is a true tragedy in the making. I strongly believe we older women cannot just sit on the sidelines (where we’ve often been relegated) and let this happen. The worst thing we can do – which also happens to be the easiest thing we can do – is Nothing. But if we do Nothing, tragedy is almost assured.

Here’s why I think we older women are in a perfect position to do something now:

• We’ve never been older or wiser. We’ve been around the block more than a few times, and we know what time it is.
• We’re no longer employed, so we can’t be fired from our jobs for speaking out.
• Most of us are either divorced or widowed by now, so we’re freer to take an independent political position, without being muzzled by Mr.
• Our children are grown and on their own now.
• We have more time on our hands to devote to becoming informed through honest, reliable news sources.
• We realize we cannot afford to squander our remaining years on silly, superficial pursuits; the world needs our unique talents too much.
• We have nothing to lose and everything to gain (soul-wise) by taking a brave stand.

(Jane Goodall [NYTimes])

Throughout her life and remarkable career, Jane Goodall, the world’s most famous primatologist, who died this week peacefully in her sleep at the age of 91, inspired countless people all over the globe and urged us all to remember: “Every single one of us makes a difference every day – it is up to us as to the kind of difference we make.” (www.janegoodall.org ) 

“We need to get together to try and make change,” she is quoted as saying recently. “We must take action now,” she told Jimmy Fallon in a late-night interview in April 2019. She wanted to be – and was supremely successful at being – an agent of change in her long lifetime.

We can try to do the same, in our own ways, in our own spheres. How? However we can. Start by realizing you matter, you have an important role to play in this drama; you’re not just a passive member of the audience. Then become informed — turn off the TV quiz shows and put down the romance novels — face the unpleasant truths and try your best to make sense of them (yes, it’s all a dark and depressing tangled mess right now). Then join hands with other likeminded women to find a way to make your good, caring, passionate voices heard.

Pretend, for example, that those starving Palestinian children are your grandchildren or great-grandchildren. Because, in a globally interconnected sense, they are. Then shout, “Stop this! Now!”

Take part in demonstrations if you can. Donate to worthy causes if you’re able. Share your thoughts, peaceably, with younger family members. Share this blogpost, my “call to arms,” with your circle of friends, then put your pretty gray heads together and strategize.

We’re no longer in high school typing class. That was sixty-plus years ago, before all those unsolved political assassinations, before all those exorbitantly expensive unwinnable wars, before our political awakening. Today, when everything is political, doing nothing and blithely believing all will be well (trah-la-lah) is not an option for responsible world citizens, especially us older women. Now is the time to stand up and speak out. To echo Jane Goodall: “We must take action now.”