Monday Motivation: Old is a Privilege

Aging has a wonderful beauty and we should have respect for that. Eartha Kitt

I’m noticing a theme wherein “old” is thrown around like some type of insult.

I’ve been in several conversations about age and I recognize we have an unhealthy relationship with “getting old.”

Aging is a beautiful privilege and nothing we need to be ashamed of.

I wish many of my loved ones could have gotten old.

I wish Tamir & Trayvon & Sandra could’ve gotten old. I wish they had the privilege of growing up and into grey hair, their faces marked with deep lines from laughing.

The life expectancy of Black trans women is 35…I wish every single woman had the privilege to be old. We treat age like a curse. We literally accuse people of doing it like it’s a crime.

We throw actresses away after they move past “their prime” wondering, “How dare they let themselves go,” and we pride ourselves on never looking our ages. Most women I know won’t even speak their number.

I challenge us to end this idea that being old is a disadvantage and instead embrace the wonder, beauty, and wisdom that comes with age.

Embrace the new days like a blessing, each wrinkle a gift, a mark of where you have been, a space where many other women, who’s lives were cut short, either by illness or violence, can never go. Our lives,  literally each and every breath we take is a luxury, let’s stop fearing age and respect it for the privilege it is, this week and always.