From This Age Thing
From This Age Thing: Was the Queen right to decline the Oldie Award, believing she does not meet the criteria, explaining that “you are as old as you feelâ€. Or was she being ageist is equating old with infirm?
No one can tell another person how to feel, and Queen Elizabeth is of course entitled to turn down the Oldie of the Year Award for whatever reason she chooses. The reason she gave is profoundly ageist.Â
Age is real—it’s how many times we’ve circled the sun—not “just a number†we can wish away. Ageism takes root in the pretense that we’re not getting older, not to mention the possibility that we might even—oh the horror!—be old. Whether the queen feels enfeebled or fit as a fiddle, she is 95. By any measure, that’s old. It’s too bad age shame still has Queen Elizabeth in its grip, as she has set a remarkable example of how to age well.