She Doesnt Owe Anyone a Hug. Not Even at the Holidays

[procon]

70. Speaking as an elder, that demeaning ageism is very patronizing and insulting.

How arrogant. Why would you assume a senior person, such as myself, requires "comforting or love" from total strangers. I'm just old, it happens to all of us, but it's not a disease. I am a fully autonomous and cogent adult, not a lost puppy. Not that I feel poorly in the first place, but whatever makes you think someone of my age needs your intervention to make me "feel better"?

Yes, I am of an age where the common dignity of a life well lived is writ large upon my face, but it is a cruel injustice to deny me the inalienable worth afforded other human beings just because you view age as a pitiable state of being. Elders are not "childlike" versions of adults. Like every other human being, we have an irrefutable intrinsic value. Mark this, the grandeur of a long life, the knowledge, experience and memories gained and shared, is not -- NOT -- diminished by time or the mark of years you see in our physical appearance.