Those attacks don't hurt my feelings, but since I have never been an aging woman before, I don't know how to talk about those attacks being based on age and gender discrimination without feeding into the idea that I'm just upset because I'm not young.
It's another form of bullying. I suppose I could start by asking that everyone who claims to be a serious journalist who writes yet another snide article about my getting older publish a face and body picture of himself or herself with the article, including his or her neck.
Everybody gets old. It's nothing to be ashamed of. I also have always said that it's not fair to the young and beautiful or to the old and not so beautiful to insist that everyone is beautiful. Everyone is not beautiful, but beauty is not such an important trait that the world will end if you admit that some people are beautiful and some aren't. It's nice to be beautiful, and to look at beautiful people, but it's not all there is to life.
If it's your turn to be young and beautiful, then it's your turn. Nobody needs to be mean to you about it, and you don't have to throw rocks at the people who are stepping off the part of the life stage which you are occupying. Perhaps you should think about how you'll want people to treat you when it's your turn to get old.
Copyright L. Kochman, May 18, 2016 @ 9:53 a.m.
