How Old Are…
January 5, 2009 – 4:36 pmOne of the volunteers in my office recently celebrated his birthday and we surprised him with a cupcake and a not so harmonious rendition of “Happy Birthday”. When I asked a co-worker how old the volunteer was, she said that she didn’t know and didn’t really want to ask him. Someone eventually did end up asking him his age, but it made me think about how strange the fairly simple (at least in my mind) notion of age is.
Age has somehow become (maybe it’s always been?) quite complex. For me, my age is simply a number. Yes, it increases each and ever year and yes, I don’t particularly like the idea of getting too much older than I am right now. I am still more than willing to share my age, though, and I can pretty much guarantee that I will never have a problem sharing my age.
My question then is why is it so impolite for us to ask others their age, particularly anyone (much) older than us?
Why is it acceptable for me to ask someone close to my age (20s) how old they are, but not someone over 50 or 60 this same elemental question?
Is it that people are ashamed of becoming or being older/old?
As far as I’m concerned, asking a person how old they are should be the same as asking that same person what they do for a living. It’s an identifying piece of information that should not be as taboo as it apparently is to ask of someone.
Is it just me???
