Madam, - Firstly, 50th birthday greetings to columnist John Waters. The obsession with youth, which he writes about, is a reflection of our consumer driven society where we prize and covet the newer, improved model. Ageing is equated with depreciation and loss - of youth and beauty, status, intellectual and sexual powers.
Instead of tackling poverty or the African Aids epidemic, we struggle Canute-like, with age and death, feebly armed with rounds of Botox and Viagra. We should accept and value every life stage, delighting in youth and beauty while appreciating our ripening and maturation and the insights our life experiences afford us. - Yours, etc,
IRENE O'DEA, Shancorn, Belturbet, Co Cavan.