Ageism Isn’t the Problem
It’s just a symptom.
There’s lots of discussion surrounding ageism and employment happening. If you’re over 50 and looking for a job, you’ve likely been told that you are “overqualified” or some other code word for being too old.
Ageism is real, and if you’ve never experienced it then you’re either under 50 or you’re not paying attention.
There are many variations on prejudice and many reasons people tell themselves that they are better than someone else. Companies everywhere are instituting DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) programs to help educate employees with the goal of creating — at the very least — a more tolerant workplace.
Ageism isn’t typically included in these programs, despite its ubiquity. The lack of concern among those under (30, 40, 50, you pick) a certain age about the treatment and mistreatment of those over that age was confusing for me. Of all the things one could be prejudiced about, it seems like the one that we all have the chance of becoming (if we’re lucky) should be at the head of the line.
So whatever group you currently identify with is one you’re likely to stick with. Except one.
People don’t change ethnicity, don’t often change religion or sexual preference either. So whatever group you currently identify with is one you’re likely to stick with. Except one.
All of us will either experience an early demise or old age. What constitutes early and what constitutes old are very subjective — you know what you think right now. But let me assure you that will change. I can only tell you that the older I get, the older “old” gets.
If you are under the age of 50, ageism probably doesn’t much concern you. There’s a chance you think it’s all nonsense because a bunch of old people want the world to stop changing. Which isn’t wrong, by the way. But that’s a different conversation.
What’s even more likely is that you don’t want to think about getting old. Humans have a really hard time picturing the future and planning for it; if that weren’t the case, we’d all have fully-funded 401ks by the time we turned 41. We especially don’t want to think about the years going by or seeing our parents when we look in the mirror. But if you’re lucky, that’s what will happen.
There’s a chance you think it’s all nonsense because a bunch of old people want the world to stop changing. Which isn’t wrong, by the way.
And it’s that knowledge — the certainty that we will have to face our mortality one way or another — that makes ageism as rampant as it is. No one wants to think about that, and if you’re not old, talking to or working with or spending time around older people is a constant reminder of what’s in store for you.
Ageism is just the symptom. The real challenge is coming to terms with our own mortality, and the complete lack of insight about what that means for each of us.
