To Age . . .

My name is Emma Clements. I've been studying sociology for the past four years or so but this is the first semester that I've ever studied the way the largest group of people functions within humanity. Yes, when I think of it that way it also seems crazy to me - to have gone so far with my studies and to have only chipped at the tip of the gerontology iceberg.
My mother turned 50 a few weeks ago and I sent her a fantastic card that I made and included some quip or other about her not looking a day over 25. My mother has never been terrified of aging or against growing old (she has been against becoming a Grandmother, but I'm pretty sure that has more to do with me growing up than her) but it's a well-known stereotype that women are embarrassed about their aging processes. There are claims that 50 is the "new" 40 and blurbs about celebrities "looking great for their age" which I find to be quite inane. Aging is an important issue because it's inevitable and just like people get information when they're quite small about what will happen to them later on and how to handle it, people need that when they're full-grown about what will happen to them later on and how to handle it.

(photo credit: unknown but definitely not me) "The great secret that all old people share is that you really haven't changed in 70 or 80 years. Your body changes, but you don't change at all." - Doris Lessing (British novelist)