Growing Old Is Not For Sissies

By Etta Clark • March 1992

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Etta Clark

Correspondence

Etta Clark’s “Growing Old Is Not for Sissies” [Issue 196], with its pictures of “super” agers, bothered me. Where are your pictures of the “average” octogenarians, full of wisdom and experience, crippled with arthritis and draped in wrinkles?

Are we going to continue to worship youth and express our fear of aging by lauding those who are able to do “youthful” things when they are old?

The beauty of aging — the blessing of deteriorating bodies — is that it turns us inward. No longer distracted by the physical, we are led to an exploration of soul. Let us celebrate who we are.

Becky Achten Juneau, Alaska

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