Mailbag: Your headline made the ‘elderly’ chuckle

Re. “Elderly man injured,” (Aug. 9):

I was born in 1950, so I’m a baby boomer and a midcentury. I experienced the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, as well as the ‘80s, ‘90s and the new millennium.

But it wasn’t until I read the Aug. 9 edition of the Daily Pilot that it even occurred to me that I might also be described as, gad, “elderly!”

Please tell me that you have a high school journalism student writing headlines as part of a summer internship of some sort. From the perspective of a 17-year-something, maybe, just maybe, I can be described as decrepit, old and, yes, elderly.

When I saw the headline about the “elderly man” who was injured and the subhead that indicated that he is 56 years old, I thought it would be wise to get second, third and fourth opinions. I brought the piece to my office and solicited lots of input.

The consensus is that 56 is anything but elderly and that the Pilot needs to eat some crow on behalf of a large segment of its “aging” readership.

Thanks for the laugh!

Joe Farley

Newport Beach

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50 is the new 36

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

First of all, with all due respect and sympathy for the “elderly” man who was reportedly injured in his wheelchair by some thug, I have to highlight the fact that the Daily Pilot had somehow associated the word elderly with the age of 56. Unless this is a typo, I, as a recent new member of the 50s club, laughed out loud.

Hello! Fifty is the new 36, as far as I am concerned. My friends and I still get up in the morning, stretch, go exercise, meet friends for coffee, have lunch with friends, have a great and productive day (without a nap), then sometimes even go out to dinner after the blue-light special — ha ha! — and enjoy a few glasses of wine.

We go to our children’s high school games and cheer them on, loudly and energetically. We go on vacations, and zip line and jump in lakes. And some of us surf and go the fair and get on the rides. Blah, blah, blah.

We can do it all. I am looking forward to being “elderly” one day, but decades after the ripe old age of 56!

Kim Faris

Newport Beach

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Were you kidding?

Surely you jest. A teenager on your staff must have written this because it is an insult to call a 56-year-old “elderly.” Think about that for awhile.

Rhoda Friedman

Newport Beach

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Editor’s note: The headline was written in error.

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Government helps

Re. “Business people built it,” (Aug. 8):

Ms. Hayden asks if anyone can “name a government agency (with the exception of our amazing armed forces, police and firefighters) that is not a bureaucratic, high-cost mess.” She also wants the name of “a government agency that has truly helped them get their business started.”

Your public library.

Barbara Rycroft

Costa Mesa

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Wisconsin shootings

In the wake of the recent shootings at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., the Newport-Mesa-Irvine Interfaith Council extends its heartfelt sympathy and unwavering support to the Sikh community, both here in Orange County and around the country.

We also strongly and unconditionally condemn all violence aimed at houses of worship and practitioners of any and all religious traditions and the hate speech that, by targeting specific ethnic and faith groups, makes this type of tragedy not only possible, but evermore frequent.

We stand together with all our brothers and sisters to call for an end to these bias-motivated attacks and pledge to use our voices to speak out against bigotry and hate wherever they may occur, and to promote mutual understanding and peace among people everywhere.

Rev. Julie Elkins, First United Methodist Church of Costa Mesa

Rev. Karen Stoyanoff, Unitarian Universalist

Armand Mauss, Church of Jesus Christ, Latter-day Saints, Irvine Stake

Rabbi Susan Conforti, Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian

Eman Bermani, Islamic Education Center of Orange County

Rev. Sarah Halverson, Fairview Community Church

Felicity Figueroa, Irvine United Congregational Church

Lane Calvert, Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Costa Mesa

Susan Munsell, Family Federation for World Peace

Avinder Chawai, Sikh Center of Orange County

Victoria Dendinger, Our Lady Queen of Angels

Carol Lambert, Church of Jesus Christ, Latter-day Saints, Newport Beach Stake

Noie LaRue, Christian Science Church, Newport Beach

Rev. David Stoner, First United Methodist Church, Costa Mesa

Greg Kelley, Vice president, NMI Interfaith Council

Jim de Boom, executive director, NMI Interfaith Council