What an utterly ridiculous thing to say about people you clearly don't hang with regularly. Not only do the best and most active folks over seventy I know NOT say this, they find the comment ludicrous. Not only is that an ageist thing to say about a cohort about which you clearly know very, very little, there's more right in your own family. There's a reason you and your sister aren't aligned. You've maligned older people. And shame on you for it. And we aren't exceptional. Increasingly I find that we are more the rule than the exception. What's exceptional is that younger people buy this idiot Koolaid, write about it as though it's true for ALL who are aging well despite all the ageist bullshit, and perpetuate the untruths. Of course there are folks who age badly. They get there through bad attitudes about aging, bad habits, bad choices and sometimes, sheer bad luck. Read the research. It's plentiful and easy to find. As in, GOOGLE IT. Aging well is a choice, a lifestyle choice. It takes hard work with habits you inculcate young. And one of them is to stop maliging a natural and sacred process. Dear god what a depressing article. But thanks, though, you inspired one for me.