Peter Pan society

Published: September 18, 2007, 11:22 am

That’s not the name of some private organization. Unfortunately, it describes us. Well…..not you exactly, because you folks in the Forum here are intelligent, mature, engaged, and witty…without comproming the sensibility that comes with being grown up. But it describes much of our culture, says Colleen Carroll Campbell, in this observation of a playground society in need of some adults. Aging gracefully in a Peter Pan society is no easy task. Older Americans are remaining active and living longer than ever before, but they no longer enjoy immunity from our culture’s forever-young demands. In place of blatant age discrimination, there is a new ethic of exaggerated non-discrimination that says older Americans must meet the same standards of physical health, sexual allure and perpetual hipness as everyone else — or die trying. True, isn’t it? Which is why Diana West was prompted to write the book Colleen is reviewing here, The Death of the Grown-Up,

[ Full article ]

Blog link

Rating: 0

Comments