The more I experience ‘it’ (age) the more I realize the validity of that comment. The more mature (I like that a whole lot more than ‘older’ though age and maturity are not naturally the same and I really hate ‘senior’) I become, the more I hear really banal comments from others. Example: ‘dear’ or ‘honey’ seem to take the place of one’s name. ‘Dear’ is something I’ve never been and ‘honey’ is an ingredient when one is baking.
For some reason people like to refer to women ‘of a certain age’ as ‘girl’. Grief! I stopped being a girl around 10 years of age. Interestingly enough – I don’t ever remember hearing males ‘of a certain age’ referred to as ‘boys’. Why is that I wonder? The problem is to not strangle the other person for making those kinds of comments.
Another issue is mobility. I grant you that I’m not as quick and agile as I was 40 years ago but I’m also not an invalid. (You do realize that one of the definitions of invalid is in valid – and I’m not in valid!) It is true that gravity hits at a certain time of life, but gravity has nothing to do with mobility. I may not like to walk as fast, then again…. I never did. Point is – before assuming, check to see if assistance is required.
Thus, you can see that for those brave enough age is a crown not a burden. It does take courage to not be beaten down by the forces of time, but it is a real insult when people assist with that through how they treat and react. In many societies, those past a certain age are venerated. I would never seek that, but don’t make assumptions either. If life didn’t make a coward out of me… don’t assume you can.
