{"id":24125,"date":"2019-06-28T11:57:37","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T15:57:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=24125"},"modified":"2019-06-28T11:57:47","modified_gmt":"2019-06-28T15:57:47","slug":"brocks-banter-on-being-cute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/brocks-banter-on-being-cute\/","title":{"rendered":"BROCK’S BANTER: On Being “Cute”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent statistics\npegging general human life expectancy at a decline or, at best, stagnating\nafter a steep incline are alarming, to say the least.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has been said by\nexperts that, for a variety of reasons \u2013 the opioid crisis, environmental\ndegradation, poor diet, etc. \u2013 the upcoming generation will be the first one\nwith a shorter life expectancy than the previous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only time can say\nwhether this forecast will bear withered fruit, but I guess some might take\ncomfort in the fact that age, and what it means to be a senior \u2013 or, to get\nright to the point, \u201cold\u201d \u2013 continues to be on that strange and mystical\nsliding scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not too long ago,\nFreedom 55 was an aspirational goal. It still is for many, but it seems from my\narmchair perspective that as people zero in on that arbitrarily-decided\ngoalpost, that more and more individuals are balking at the idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retirement sounds\ngreat on paper, some have told me, affording them the chance to travel with\ntheir loved ones, something they weren\u2019t really able to do working themselves\nto the bone with their eyes on this particular prize, but, once it arrives, the\nidea of packing it all in for a life of leisure is daunting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They feel they have,\nso much more to give, so much left still to accomplish in their careers, and\nthe idea of sliding into a well-earned retirement is rather suffocating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

50 is the new 40, they\nsaid. Several years ago. Now, even that seems more of a long shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nowadays, people who\nhave hit the mark insist that life begins at 50. You have a good decade or\nthree under your belt to make a name for yourself in your chosen field, you\u2019ve\nsaved enough to buy a nice home and, thanks to the wonders of science or Mother\nNature being in on this Dorian Gray-like pact, some on the cusp of the\nhalf-century mark are finding themselves with a young or new family to raise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, while our\nattitudes towards aging continue to evolve \u2013 and, in my opinion, evolve for the\nbetter \u2013 it doesn\u2019t appear that our attitudes towards the aged are following\nsuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think it\u2019s a safe\nbet to say that many of us grew up with idealized visions of what our\ngrandparents should be. Whether we were influenced by storybooks, depictions on\nfilm and television, or the grandparents of our peers, more often than not our\nshared visions of what constituted being a grandmother as rather idealized: a\nbespectacled woman, shawl over her shoulders, snow white hair styled into a\nsoft, tidy but manageable coif, possibly a cameo pinned to the neck, who lives\nfor nothing more than whipping up home cooking in the off-chance her grandkids\nmight pop by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the grandfatherly\nside of things, what kid didn\u2019t have a vision of an equally kindly gentleman\nwho spent his mornings in a comfortable old armchair, half-moon reading glasses\nat the tip of his nose, ready to consume everything he could in the daily\nnewspaper before starting his day \u2013 which, of course, was invariably spent\nwoodworking, handing out hard candies to the kids, or relining a fishing pole\nbefore taking little Bobby or Suzie out for the morning catch?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of us might have\nlucked out in getting at least some of that in our respective genetic bargains,\nbut it\u2019s probably safe to admit that the hand we were dealt was much more\ncomplex and interesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we were fortunate\nenough to get to know our grandparents, we came to find that under the silver\ntresses, and the odd wrinkle here and there, were true individuals, each with\ntheir own life experiences, wisdom to impart and, regardless of age, their own\ngoals for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, where along the\nline do people on the younger side of fifty take leave of our senses and begin\ntreating them like children?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This came up in a\nconversation over the weekend when a discussion amongst a group of friends\nturned to four nonagenarians still very active in public life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now in their nineties,\nthey have been in the public eye for the majority of their lives, making\ninroads into our public consciousness through various means, including media\ntoday that wasn\u2019t even a thought when they first started out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout their work,\nthey have been at the forefront of our modern life, embracing new technology as\nit came along, taking it over in a way which worked for their individual style,\nand mastering the art of communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the majority of\ntheir careers, they were seen as driving forces in their field, the undisputed\nbosses in their profession, quick to respond, adapt as change demanded, and,\nultimately, individuals not to be trifled with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of those things\napply today \u2013 they still have a strong presence in what they do, are exemplars\nto newcomers in their fields, and still adept to the rapid pace of our modern\nworld \u2013 but, to many people, they are seen as something more. Something that sounds\nnice on the surface, but when that surface is scratched, is rather more\nunsettling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That something is:\ncute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This whole \u201ccute\u201d\nthing seemed to happen overnight. As soon as they crossed a rather arbitrary\nage threshold, all of a sudden, they were increasingly victimized by volleys\nof, \u201cLook at them. They are so cute,\u201d by people apparently keen to disregard\nthe fact they are still vital, forward-thinking individuals, still at the top\nof their game. By invoking this word, those uttering it veer dangerously close\nto condescension, demoting a seasoned veteran of life into the same column as a\nprecocious child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In these particular\ncases, I\u2019ve never really seen them as cute, appreciating them for what they\nstill have to offer the world, which they thankfully do with a regularity that\nbelies their years. In other cases, however, I am ashamed to say I have been\nguilty, trying to invoke memories of their past rather than giving them a hand,\nif needed, in being an active member of the present and future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, yes, suddenly\nfinding myself viewing my once vital, active, engaged and present grandparents\n\u201ccute.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With our rapidly aging population, I think we\nshould all be mindful of this and make a concerted effort to catch ourselves\nbefore we fall in the trap, keeping in mind how we would feel if we were\nsuddenly on the other side of that invisible, arbitrary line, and finding\nourselves \u201ccute\u201d in the eyes of others. Personally, I would be mortified \u2013 and\nI\u2019m bound and determined to do my utmost to avoid the pitfall.<\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir Recent statistics pegging general human life expectancy at a decline or, at best, stagnating after a steep incline are alarming, to say the least. It has been said by experts that, for a variety of reasons \u2013 the opioid crisis, environmental degradation, poor diet, etc. \u2013 the upcoming generation will be the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[29,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns","category-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6h7","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-24 01:07:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24125\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}