Download the letter from the NY Times site
Really Old Age: There’s No Denying It
To the Editor:
“Real Life Among the Old Old,” by Susan Jacoby (Op-Ed, Dec. 31), was a welcome dose of reality.
This country’s dominant cultural narrative about old age seeks to deny it out of existence. This narrative and the accompanying lessons in how to be “ageless” are self-defeating.
They rest on the easy assumption of individual control (conveniently forgetting about poverty and its effects on health). They pressure us into believing that we can and should remake ourselves, usually at considerable cost, because what we are — old — is undesirable.
Further, the popular image of healthy, affluent older people undermines support for Social Security, Medicare and other critical safety net programs that respond to the needs of nearly half of older people, primarily women, who live on the economic edge.
Age is more than a number. Ms. Jacoby got it exactly right when she said the important task was not seeking to make 90 the new 50 but making “90 a better 90” — and, I would add, 70 a better 70 and 80 a better 80.
Martha Holstein
Chicago, Jan. 1, 2011
The writer teaches and writes about ethics and aging and consults on long-term care policy.
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