Fewer, Richer, Greener

5Age Before Beauty: Life in an Aging Society

Whoever coined the phrase “age before beauty” must have known that, someday, almost the whole world would be an aging society. Since the phrase is a little mysterious, I’ll rely on the poison-pen author and joker Dorothy Parker (see Figure 5.1) to put it in context:

Mrs. Parker and a snooty debutante were both going in to supper at a party: the debutante made elaborate way, saying sweetly, “Age before beauty, Mrs. Parker.” “And pearls before swine,” said Mrs. Parker, sweeping in.¹

Figure 5.1 Dorothy Rothschild (later Dorothy Parker) as a young woman. 

Source: https://medium.com/@penguinpress/dorothy-parker-on-why-she-hasnt-married-yet-d20dc97f5735. Public domain.

The ageless Parker (who was only 45) meant that the young and beautiful should respect their elders, let them pass through the doorway first, and not seize the advantages that young and beautiful people might be accustomed to. Pearls before swine . . . well, you figure it out.

Today, a 45-year-old might be counted among the young, and would be well advised to yield to his or her active 75-year-old parent or friend. We are living longer—much longer, for in 1893, when Parker was born, the life expectancy for an American woman who reached adulthood was around 62. Today, it’s about 82.² This profound change has, unsurprisingly, both upsides and downsides.

Figure 5.2 is ...