Sue, while I appreciate that you can at least give me some credit in my article for noting that there are choices and there are preferences, let’s be clear. As a senior athlete, this is my reference point, this is what I am drawn to, and these are among the folks I most admire. If you also read from some of the other more than 1200 articles I’ve written for Medium.com and not choose to judge who I am and what I think by one single article in which I am selecting a highly specific POV you might find that I find a great deal to celebrate among many Women of a Certain Age for many reasons. But my reference point is super active, powerful, motivated women because that’s what motivates the hell out of me personally.

You’d also find out that I have very strong opinions about how society treats fat (I spent many decades obese) and eating disorders (four decades.) Any short article is only going to focus on ONE THEME. So you can point out this, that or the other about this single article, but as with all issues human, it is a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of not only those things that I write about and which interest me, but it is like looking at a single photo on Match.com and deciding you know everything about me. That’s just as unfair as my choosing to read your comments here and deciding I know everything about you. I chose a single theme and developed it. You can choose, as is your right, to disagree.

However my habit, when I find an article that gets my attention in one way or another, is to go read other pieces that author produces because that not only honors the fact they are multifaceted but also that as I said before, this article is a tiny snippet of the whole of their opinion base, their POV and by this point in life, a rather broad range of ideas, comments, notions, opinions and insights. You are not required to agree with anything anyone says, Sue. IN THIS ARTICLE I chose to take a POV about one specific line of thought. You also took a few of my comments out of context of the rest of the sentence, which is what muckraking journalists do in order to damage a reputation and misrepresent a POV, all in the name of being right. That is one of the sad addictions of our humanity, the need to be right at all costs, and to insist on making arguments (no matter what the value ends up being one way or the other) simply to be right, rather than seek to understand.

For example I thoroughly enjoyed your thoughtful piece on Christmas because it happens to track with how I increasingly feel about any religious holiday. The point has far more to do with togetherness and acknowledging the value of people on our lives. That’s a completely different facet of who you are, as you deal with the losses of your parents. If I just decided to judge you based on your discomfort with what I wrote my understanding of you would be very narrow indeed (and of course still is, but that’s my point).

My reference point is fitness. My reference point is badass, live out loud people. And yes, there are some folks who wear things that are uniquely unflattering (please see any Walmart shopper photos). I decry poor taste since I spent a long time writing about fashion. However taking my comments out of context doesn’t move the conversation forward.

The headline in my article was in response to a piece I read on Sixty and Me. That was the entire point, Sue, I chose a line of thinking to respond to. If it doesn’t appeal to you, if you don’t agree, that’s your right. However and I say this with the utmost respect for your right to write whatever you want and the way you want, you do not have the right to tell me what I mean when I write. When you take up residence in my brain, live my life, and see what I see, then you earn that right. Any more than I have the right to dictate to you what you think, what your opinions are, or what you mean by any single line in your story until I climb inside your well-lived 72-year old hippies’ body. That’s your sacred right to have a POV. You’ve earned it. So have I. Every so often I will pen a piece that points out a single line item I have feelings about. Otherwise, for god’s sake Sue, we’d all be writing War and Peace in order to avoid offending Every. Single Person. on the face of the earth. That is what is so uniquely offensive about the political correctness. To that I might offer the great John Cleese:

Again, this is just my take. It doesn’t make me right- it is my take. And I have every right to that take, just as you do to yours. That said, I appreciate the discussion, and wish you the best.