SSAY|WRITING|CREATIVE WRITING
Why Age Ain’t No Joke
Isn’t it time to get rid of centuries-old stereotypes? (And walking sticks while we’re at it)
Last week, a letter of mine was published in The Guardian’s letters page. You can read it here (it’s at the top). In it I referred to an article posted at the weekend in the paper’s regular section “This is how we do it”. This is a weekly outing in which correspondents open up about what rocks their boats in the bedroom (or in other parts of the house, even outside it). You can also read the feature by clicking the link above. In fact, I’d recommend reading the column before reading my answer to it.
Why did I get so worked up? Because I’m fed up with old age-related cliches. The 21st century may well be ushering in an AI-powered revolution, but we still have the minds of children for whom a 30-year-old person is old (a 40-something-year-old is ancient by comparison. Oh, my sides!). Yes, we can get to grips with technology but we’ve yet to overcome our youth-obsessed attitudes.
Totally by chance, before I read The Guardian’s article, I was also browsing through my Libby app. Specifically, I was checking to see if Alice Munro’s collection of short stories Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage was available. I still…
