Ellen Goodman’s Last Column

The other day we learned that Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin came close to tying for first place as the most admired women in America. You all know how I feel about Hillary Clinton by this time; given the chance, I would’ve voted for her to take first place. And although I continue to have major differences with Sarah Palin, I continue to stand up for her against the unrelenting sexist attacks from the left and right wing extremes.

For years columnist Ellen Goodman was near the top of my list of most admired women. In the past two years, however, her lukewarm support for Hillary and her over the top attacks on Sarah dampened my enthusiasm for her work. Even so, I felt a twinge of something akin to grief just now as I read her final column in today’s Boston Globe:

Ellen writes:

Looking backward and forward, I belong to a generation that has transformed our culture. We’ve been the change agents for civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights. Now, we find ourselves on the cutting edge of another huge social change. This time, it’s the longevity revolution. Ours is the first generation to collectively cross the demarcation line of senior citizenship with actuarial tables on our side.

“Senior citizen’’ is now a single demographic nametag that includes those who fought in World War II and those who were born in World War II. We don’t have a label yet to describe the early, active aging. But many of us are pausing to recalculate the purpose of a longer life. We are reinventing ourselves and society’s expectations, just as we have throughout our lives.

Ellen concludes by quoting herself at an earlier age:

“The trick of retiring well may be the trick of living well,’’ I wrote back then. “It’s hard to recognize that life isn’t a holding action, but a process. It’s hard to learn that we don’t leave the best parts of ourselves behind, back in the dugout or the office. We own what we learned back there. The experiences and the growth are grafted onto our lives. And when we exit, we can take ourselves along - quite gracefully.’’

She knew then what I know much more intimately now. So, with her blessing, I will let myself go. And go for it.

All rancor aside, I wish Ellen Goodman well as she steps off the stage at the Boston Globe.