Age and Ageism

 

Not long ago, there were old people. (Yes, I said Old. Not seniors, not any other euphemism). People touched their feet: they blessed those people. The older they got, the more important they were. Venerable was the word. Wrinkles, white hair--- badges of honour. A life lived to the full. Wisdom gained from experience. Their stage in life was almost aspired to. No doubt, physical ailments may not have been too severe. Even if they were, they were looked up to as battle scars. The aged were the marathon runners in the race of life. The very age they had reached was a mark of their success. They had beaten death thus far.

Even at a baser level, the veneration and regard rose from a healthy respect for the fact that we are all going there one day. Now we seem to have forgotten all that.

Maybe we are scared. Not so much of the disability and the deteriorating faculties, but of the wrinkles. The toxic positivity around aging surely cannot be healthy. How many times have we heard the refrain, “Age is just a number!” That sounds patronizing.

Sure, one must do everything one can, to keep fit. However, let us not equate fitness with youth and beauty. Ageing gracefully does not mean looking young for one’s age. It means accepting with grace, the fact that change is taking place, and how to make the best of one’s resources—physical and mental.

Let us not relegate Age to just a number. Age is a whole life: the hurdles, the triumphs, the ups and downs. Age is experience and memories of a forgotten world.

This post is a part of the Blogchatter Half Marathon 2025.