Reply #63: Wow, people sure are afraid of getting old! [View All]

[skygazer]

It's just a word. It doesn't mean you're fragile or sickly or ready to keel over - it simply means that you have more years behind you than you do ahead. Big deal. Happens to all of us.

We cloak all these words in mystery and innuendo and try to come up with new words that don't make us sound so "old." We are frigging old - I'm 46. I feel great, I'm in decent shape, I have reasonable health. I'm not a "girl," I'm not young - I'm middle-aged. So what? I don't get offended when people call me "ma'am." It's a term of respect.

We're so terrified of getting old that we have no respect for the people in our society who ARE old or elderly or whatever you want to call it. "Senior citizens" - now there's a stupid phrase. Skating around the reality.

I'm middle-aged. When I hit about 60 or 65, I'll be considered elderly. It simply means that I'm old. It IS old and it's not something to be ashamed of. Hell, it's something to be proud of. I never thought I'd live past 30, frankly.