EQUALITY
When Are We Officially “Old”?
Beware of “successful aging” and the bias it brings.
Coach Maloney was my soccer coach in middle school and a mentor along the way. He’d been a former star high school athlete and practiced with our team, regularly dribbling past us with ease and outrunning us by several strides. Though he had thick muscular legs, he sported a rotund torso and a mostly bald head. At the time, I’d thought he was so old, which is why I marveled at his athleticism.
Yesterday, I looked back through my yearbook, and realized, “Oh my god. He was 38.”
I’m 40 now — and coach doesn’t look nearly as old as I remembered. It illustrates how our perception of age changes as we get a few years under our belt. There’s always an inner you that feels younger, and ready to conquer the world. Even if the person staring back in the mirror doesn’t match that feeling.
So when do we become old — officially? And how should we think and talk about our seniors? These questions go right to the heart of how we live and treat each other.
The evolving needs
Our definition of age has quickly evolved over the past 100 years, as life expectancies have risen dramatically, even discounting for the impact of falling infant mortality…
