I never thought that at age 47, I’d be writing an article about ageism. But here we are. However, this isn’t so much to complain about being “old” (and being passed over for some opportunities as a result) as it is to question the basis for ageism to begin with.
In recent years, the “okay, boomer” phrase has taken flight. It apparently originated from either Reddit or TikTok, depending on which search result you believe. Either way, the term is now an accepted way to shame an older person for their political views or lack of knowledge about modern pop culture.
Now let me start by saying that yes, there definitely are Boomers out there that are dinosaurs, unwilling to change their stance based on new information. However, this is not exclusive to the Boomers. There are people from my generation — Gen X — that hold stagnated views. In fact, most of the people I saw crying about vaccines during the pandemic were closer to my age, some of them younger. (That’s probably because Boomers saw the positive effects of vaccines for wiping out polio, measles, and mumps, which the anti-vaxxers are trying hard to bring back. But this may be off-topic.)
For the most part, the Boomers in my life are intelligent, decent people. They open their arms to help others. They have cool stories about the old days. They have gained a lot of perspective about life, having gone through many situations, and they willingly give advice from the heart.
So why do we think that aging is something to make fun of? In my opinion, those who are oldest among us are also the most badass. They have somehow survived everything life has thrown at them, and they’re still kicking. It indicates a certain amount of resilience, or at least good genes. What’s so funny about that?
Look inward
Sure, us older folks may not always be as physically pretty as younger folks are. We’ve been through more damaging summers. We’ve possibly smoked or drank in greater quantities than they have. We show visible signs of stress from juggling work and parenting. Our metabolism has slowed down. We can’t run as fast. Our fashions might be out of date. The beauty industry holds women hostage in particular, telling them anything less than perfect is flawed.
However, isn’t there a long overdue push to also appreciate the value inside of a person? Younger people complain about impossible beauty standards, and yet they uphold them routinely. Sure, personal image is important — I’m not going to pretend it’s not — but ageism discards the knowledge. It discards experience. It discards personality. Pure and simple, it’s discrimination based on what year a person happened to enter the world.
Ageism is a two-way street
Now, perhaps it’s because that older generations routinely poke fun at the younger generations, telling them ridiculous crap like they buy too much avocado toast to afford a house. This is obviously not the case. Giving up brunch is not going to bridge the huge gap in real estate prices, which have soared since 1950. House prices are going up partly due to greed, which no generation is immune from.
On that note, I’d like to apologize to younger people if any of us older folks have written them off. In fact, many of the brightest people I know these days are younger than me. They’re ambitious. They recognize corruption. They want fairness and justice. They’re more accepting of others (perhaps aside from old people) than previous generations. This is a move in the right direction for humanity, not the opposite.
Gen Z in particular is moving away from capitalism, the root of many evils. They see the benefits of working together with others toward the common good. They are more liberal-leaning than ever. While many conservative Boomers might scoff at this political trend, it was their parents that fought the world wars to ensure everyone has a reasonable level of freedom. Essentially, they laid the groundwork to allow people to be who they want to be, without fear of persecution.
We’re all valuable in different ways
Young people laugh at older people for — well, being old — while older people sometimes make fun of younger people for not knowing what they know about the world. People of all existing generations offer unique perspectives and solutions to the collective woes of the world, from climate change to major conflicts.
Just like the younger people of today, older generations bent to the will of the world (in varying degrees) to thrive during their time. We shouldn’t write off older folks for once holding ignorant views — we should celebrate that they have opened their minds.
However, as I said before, there are shitty people among all generations. If an older person’s views are selfish or hateful towards others, then they need to search deeper inside themselves. They’ve had more time to put life in perspective, to be grateful for the little things.
While I may not like my reflection in the mirror as much as I used to (or at all), there’s a lot about being middle-aged that’s worth celebrating. In certain ways, I feel more valuable and empowered than ever.
At the end of the day, everyone wants happiness. Dismissing older folks simply for aging is also dismissing those who want a brighter future for younger generations — and are willing to join their fight.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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