New York Times reporter John Leland would like your help for an upcoming article in The Times about the small daily insults that can come with getting older. Recently he got an this e-mail from a reader:
I am offended when first-named by children, strangers and receptionists (often in their teens); what they consider “friendly” I consider false intimacy. Strangers have begun to call me “dear” and “sweetie,” things they would never in a million years call a woman in her forties or fifties. The assaults are terrible and ongoing and people **mean well.** But they treat the elderly as if aging were a joke. I actually said to someone I may be old but I’m not stupid.
If you have a story you’d like to share, go here and click on the email post at the bottom of Jane Gross’ New Old Age Blog.
