Editor’s note: I’m fine being left off the 50 Over 50 list

I jokingly quipped about being a member of the forgotten generation after being excluded from City & State’s inaugural Above & Beyond: Generation X list in 2023. However, I won’t make the same joke for not being included in City & State’s latest 50 Over 50 list, featured in this week’s magazine and to be celebrated with an awards ceremony at the 3 West Club in midtown Manhattan on Jan. 30 sponsored by AARP New York. I am 57, but this time I’m perfectly fine sitting on the sidelines as City & State honors this distinguished crowd of giants from government, private industry and the nonprofit sector.

Going over the latest list, I found myself becoming anxious thinking of how I will gush in the presence of the latest crop of honorees when I attend this year’s awards event. I envisioned myself bowing and blurting out, “not worthy!” the moment I arrive, quoting the famous line from the more than 30-year-old “Saturday Night Live” skit, “Wayne’s World.” I’m sure many of the 50 Over 50s remember seeing that one when it was first broadcast. Check out their stories and you too will understand how for these honorees, being over 50 is far from being considered old. And I don’t mean that they should be called “vintage,” or that 50 is the new 40. These are Age Disruptors. They are the kind of people who shake things up and make an impact, and they’ve done it for more than half a century. Let’s celebrate that energy and hope that they keep their momentum going for many more years to come.