In 2010, blogger and friend of EngAGE Ronni Bennett wrote a post on “Time Goes By” about mystery writer P.D. James on the event of the author’s 90th birthday. In it, she provided a link to this video interview on The Guardian’s website. Ronni commented:
Take a good look at Ms. James and watch her on that video. She could easily be taken for what people commonly think of as a 65- or 70-year-old, both physically and cognitively. What is important here is that she is not exceptional, exempt from debilities of extreme age for being an accomplished writer or any other special circumstance. Old age is a great leveler.
Many elders live to the age of Ms. James and beyond as well as she has and there will be more as the elder population increases due to the advances, during that past hundred years, in health care and understanding of it. Nevertheless, Ms. James is not the cultural expectation, which is in need of an adjustment.
P.D. James was 93 on August 3rd and the cultural expectation is still in need of that adjustment!
