Ageism

In my youth I am sure that I regarded people above the age of forty as old and above the age of sixty as ancient, though I am not aware of ever having had those thoughts. What I never doubted, even in my most rebellious days - and there were lots of those - was that older people knew lots of things that neither I nor others of my age did. It seemed obvious to me that age conferred wisdom on some people, though not necessarily in a 'cause and effect' sense, as obvious as the fact that they could not understand me or others of my age.

Today older people are shunned rather than respected or revered in a strange, inexplicable change of public attitude. Wherever you look around you youth is promoted as the magic ingredient in business, politics or anything, with people above forty regarded as dinosaurs of a kind with no role to play and little contribution to make. I find this outrageously stupid, incredibly offensive and a colossal waste for our society, throwing away a ready reservoir of knowledge and experience in order to celebrate the new.

Don't get me wrong: there are many things, especially involving the development of new technology, where youth has distinct advantages over experience. In most other aspects of life, though, knowledge and in-depth understanding trump (ha-ha) youth and energy without a shadow of a doubt. So why are we ignoring this ready resource, deriding age and moving the bar constantly towards ever younger people?

Yet in a completely contradictory fashion we insist that childhood extends to 18 for many activities, including sex, but that somehow one can grow and mature so quickly that by one's mid-twenties it is possible to comprehend almost everything in depth. Even more bizarre is the idea that one should be mature enough to vote in elections for a country's leadership at 16, but not mature enough to order an alcoholic drink at a pub. Are we confused or what?

You may well say that it suits me to complain about ageism now that I am aged myself, and in some ways you may be right. I have only become aware of how widespread ageism is now that I am looking for employment; previously, while running my own business I was blissfully unaware of it and, indeed, unwilling to acknowledge such a ludicrous thing. This is not to say that I did not recognise and accept the changes that age brings in mind and body, especially as I up to recently worked in the health and fitness industry, but not all these are bad, not all are negative. Yes the body is slower - and slower to recover from exertion, overindulgence or injury - but the mind is, if anything, more capable, better equipped, with more to draw on and, dare I say it, more astute. Age makes one more cynical usually, but also more pragmatic and, therefore, more able to make decisions based on actuality and not perception.

Life is how it is - are you totally fed up of hearing me repeat this again and again? - not how we may want it to be, more's the pity. Society is now prejudiced against older people and there is very little we can do about it, as it is never expressed directly - such discrimination would be, of course, against the law - but is covert and subtle. Instead, at least on the job search front, the weasel words appear: many excellent candidates, others better qualified, more closely matching our criteria, in this instance... perhaps in the future... etc. etc. It is not possible for a candidate to discuss this in any productive or meaningful way, alas, so there is no way to get to the bottom of things. And, before you mention it, I only apply to positions that match my experience and background, not ones that require skills in things I know nothing about (and do not care enough to learn). Furthermore, my polemic today is based not only on my experiences, though it is certainly inspired by them; I see and talk to many others who have similar experiences in varying circumstances.

Prejudice is a massive subject. If we are honest with ourselves we all carry some, in one way or another, with ageism just one of many, -ism or other. It is, however, one I feel is extremely detrimental to our society as it leaves a massive pool of knowledge untapped when it could be put to good use (no, not just me, dumdum!) . It needn't be seen as age vs. youth, rather as age complementing youth, advising, supporting, guiding. On this I will endeavour to bore you in the not too distant future!