I’m Ready to Reclaim the Word “Old” – Are You?

I am not a campaigner. I don’t have the right personality. But there is one issue I would love to see others campaign on – the word ‘old’.

No one will say ‘old’ about themselves or their friends. They will say ‘older’ or ‘senior’ or ‘elder’ or any number of other words, but they avoid the word ‘old’ like the plague.

The word frightens people. They immediately think of being frail and unhealthy – indeed, just about to die.

But if we set age 60 or 65 as the beginning of ‘old’, most people are none of these things at that point. They have many years to go.

And there are many people much older than this – in their 80s and 90s who are also very healthy. And active. And doing very well, thank you.

Now, we can carry on tiptoeing around the word ‘old’ and accept this is the natural way of things – or we could set out to reclaim it for ourselves.

Black Is Beautiful

Many of us are old enough to remember when some daring people of Afro-Caribbean descent chose to reclaim the word ‘Black’.

They coined the phrase “Black is beautiful” and encouraged its use. And it brought a real pride into the Black community, as far as I could see.

In my parents’ day, the word was completely derogatory. Indeed, my father said he found it difficult to use the word in the 1960s because it seemed so wrong.

Yet some keen people turned it around.

Black became beautiful and the ‘mot du jour’.

Old Is Beautiful, Too

We old people need to do something similar. We need to feel good about ourselves.

OK, we can’t do a lot of the things we used to do – certainly not with the same style or speed. Our memories let us down more often than we care to mention, and our energy is sometimes not what we would like.

And, certainly, we don’t look like smooth young things.

But does this matter in the least? We have so much to give. So much confidence to share with younger women. So much joy to give to our grandchildren.

Dare I say it, perhaps – just sometimes – old is beautiful.

Indeed, as my husband and I watch one after another young (or artificially ‘young’) newscaster on the television – not a wrinkle in sight, not a hair out of place – we groan.

And then some woman pundit who shows she has lived a bit comes on and he says “mmm…. the older women are so much sexier.”

Keep Politics Out of It

Of course, ‘old’ has been in the news a lot recently, with all the old cliches trundled out for all to see. Old equals frail. Old equals past it. Old equals inability to think.

But this is not the place for politics of any kind, so just forget all that.

I Like Being Old

I am the most outrageous of them all. I actually like being old. I like it so much I have written a whole book about it.

I like the way I feel comfortable with myself. I feel comfortable being myself, which is different from you, you and you. I do it my way, and I know that is fine. Not so easily when I was younger.

I like the confidence. It allows me to write outrageous things. It allows me to talk to strangers and smile at people I don’t know.

And if that isn’t enough, I love being a grandmother. I loved being a mother – of course I did – but there was so much angst involved at the same time. Did I say the right thing? Did I do the right thing? Have I messed them up?

None of that with being a grandmother. Just a lot of love on both sides. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

So, let’s be proud of being old. Let’s shout it from the rooftops.

HOORAY FOR OLD PEOPLE!!!

Let’s Have a Conversation:

How do you feel about being old? How do you feel about the word old? Would you like to be proud to be part of a movement to reclaim the word?