 
|
|||||||||||||
              
|
Aging Art Linkletter says the darndest things
Friday, October 08, 1999 By Gary Rotstein, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
To Art Linkletter, the longtime entertainer, writer and now motivational speaker, getting old is nothing to complain about.
The aging process is just another trail to navigate among many ups and downs in life, said the 87-year-old keynote speaker at a Downtown symposium yesterday.
Successful people focus on the positives, said Linkletter, who interspersed abundant humorous anecdotes among references to overcoming the deaths of a drug-addicted daughter and a son killed in an automobile accident.
"Getting older requires making the best of things. ... We never can tell how things will work out because life is what happens to you when you're making other plans," said the author of "Old Age is Not for Sissies" and "Kids Say the Darndest Things" and longtime television host of "House Party."
Linkletter's message, delivered at a daylong event called "Celebrating the Gift of Aging," conveyed enthusiasm for life at whatever age, but not merely to keep breathing and occupying space on the planet.
"Being alive [at 87] is quite an accomplishment ... if you're curious, interested, seeing the fun out of life, doing things, having a purpose," said Linkletter, a straight-backed symbol of vigor who travels to speaking engagements four days each week, is the head of six businesses, and does a weekly television show with Bill Cosby.
His appearance was the centerpiece of a day in which the Little Sisters of the Poor, who have provided elder care in Pittsburgh since 1872, gathered more than 500 people for a largely upbeat discussion of aging issues at the Pittsburgh Hilton and Towers.
Linkletter said he channeled his energies after his daughter's suicide into anti-drug crusading, and he devotes similar attention now to supporting research to understand and cure Alzheimer's disease.
In referring to the value of fun in coping with aging, Linkletter didn't mind jesting about some of the Alzheimer's patients he's met while traveling. He recalled one elderly woman he spoke to when touring a facility in St. Louis.
"I asked, 'Do you know who I am?' and she said, 'No, but if you go to the front desk, they'll tell you,'" the famous interviewer said, in just one of many anecdotes that prompted loud laughter.
"The two best [interview subjects] are children under 10 and people over 70," Linkletter explained. "For the same reason: they say the first thing that comes to their mind. The children don't know what they're saying and the old folks don't care."
Linkletter, an active skier with his wife of 65 years, said his relationship with UCLA's Center on Aging made him aware of various lessons for the elderly, such as trying to keep involved with other people to avoid depression.
He said he's a believer in research that suggests seven keys can cumulatively add 11 years of life: don't smoke; use alcohol only moderately; keep a low-fat diet; have a good breakfast; get seven to nine hours of sleep nightly; exercise; and think positively.
"And keep a sense of humor," he advised. "It doesn't mean you have to tell jokes. If you can't think of anything else, when you're my age, take off your clothes and walk in front of a mirror. I guarantee you'll get a laugh."
|
||||||||||||
