CAUTION: Spirit in the Making

In This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism, Ashton Applewhite talks about pushing back against our youth-centric, age-fearing culture by using "Older Person in Training."  Personally, based on my own experience & the experience of others around me, I opt for SPIRIT in the MAKING.

When Mom's orthopedic surgeon, Dr. John Beight, held her hands in his & told her she was young, what I believe he meant was she seemed ageless.  Not young - she clearly, at 90, wasn't youthful.  Her hair was grey, her face wrinkled & droopy at places, her body resembling what she joshed looked like a saggy baggy elephant.  But those things weren't what registered with people encountering Mom.  What did was her ageless spirit.

This morning, I had the great fun of talking about my dear friend, Anne Davis Hyatt, with some of her friends - all men - at her senior residence. 

Anne now resides in the Personal Care Unit, on the 4th floor.  She cannot leave the floor without an escort, it would be a struggle for her to get back to her room without assistance;  she knows we have a grand time together, but couldn't tell you my name;  she will ask for the day & date, then ask again within the minute.  Yet the one newcomer at our breakfast group would never have guessed that, listening to the other three  men extol her verve, her joy of living, her friendliness & generous spirit.  To them, Anne is ageless!

My heart is filled with gratitude for Ashton's remarkable book.  Thanks to her, I do all I can to avoid using ageist language & when I do to make it at least a bit non standard - - oldsters elders ancients, words my dear old Mater used to describe herself & her compadres.

It seems to me that each & every one of us is an Old Person in Training from the time we are born & almost from that time use ageist labels.  There is something so beyond adorable about seeing a babe in arms, barely able to speak, spotting another little one & saying, "Baby!" - "Look, Mater, at that human who is less than me!"  

Then, there's the flick, Freaky Friday, which centers around multiple issues of ageism.  Lindsay Lohan's character, having switched bodies with her Mom, wails, "I'm OLD!" on seeing her reflection in the mirror.  "I'm like the Crypt Keeper!"  Her mother was played by Jamie Leigh Curtis, a sweet young thing of forty-four. 

Imagining how Mom might have responded if Dr. Beight had held her hands as he said, "Mrs. Lockhart, you are ageless."  My guess is she would have lit up, rather than brushing it aside.  Ashton is so spot on ~ ~ ageist terms - even "Baby!" from a 14-month old to one year old - are full of judgement, while spirit statements expand. 

Ashton can be an Old Person in Training.  Me?  Put me down & write me up as an all-atwitter SPIRIT in the MAKING!