We’re Just Getting Started
My mind is spinning. The stories and images I've come across via social and traditional media, as well as recent personal experiences, remind me that we are (sadly) still in the early stages of our fight against ageism:
The conversation my new colleague/friend Guadalupe Hirt shared in her recent "Dear Middlescent" newsletter in which she pointed out to her young adult son his unconscious ageism (you can find it via her LinkedIn feed).
A story recently published in The Atlantic that revealed (whaddaya know) not all older adults are set in their ways--and some people's personalities actually change after they turn 60.
A photo of 99-year-old Former President Jimmy Carter who was able to attend his wife, Rosalyn's, funeral despite being in hospice care himself--and how much his appearance belied his decades-long vitality and active involvement in Habitat for Humanity.
A televised interview with Cher during which she admitted she "didn't like" aging, even as she released her new Christmas album (her first Christmas album EVER, by the way).
Discussions I've had with octogenarians about whether Joe Biden is fit to be president, based on how they feel about their OWN fitness to be president (which begs the question, did they feel fit to be president in their 50's, 60's, or 70's, either?).
Sixty-something Valerie Bertinelli's comment in People magazine that in her brain, she's still this "young, goofy, let's-have-fun girl."
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: From the instant we take our first breath, until the instant we take our last, WE ARE ALL AGING.
Aging is NOT something that starts at some arbitrary point in our lives, like when we turn 30, or 40, or 50, or 60, or any other milestone birthday we are lucky enough to celebrate. Aging is constant. It's fluid. IT'S LIVING.
And, ageism affects ALL of us. It influences how we view others, how others view us, and, perhaps more importantly, how we view ourselves.
So as the year 2023 gradually draws to a close, let us re-double our efforts to combat ageism wherever we see it. This is more than just a noble fight. It is one that can have life-changing--and life-lengthening--consequences.