I've seen a lot in the news and social media disparaging certain demographics - ironically, usually by those who claim to be more accepting of diversity and tolerance. The ones the bother me most are the mean and spiteful comments about those who are of the older generations. Yeah, let's throw our elderly under the bus because they are no longer useful to us.
I have a lot of grave concerns about this ideology. The first thing that hits me is that this is a personal attack. I wouldn't consider myself elderly (yet), however I am officially a "senior" in many regards - I can now order from the back page on the Denny's menu.
While it is true that we degrade physically and mentally as we advance in our years, that doesn't mean that we have outlived our usefulness. To the contrary. I would like to challenge those of the younger generations to take some time and sit down with retirees and learn something about their lives. Learn something about how they made it through troubled times. Many of them are survivors of the Great Depression, World War II and through other struggles that you may never have even heard about. Things were a lot different back then and the challenges in life they had to navigate were of a completely different caliber.
I'm one of those who didn't grow up relying on technology, but later adapted and adopted. I am intimately familiar with both ways of life. I have become immersed in modern technology - even more advanced than what many of the younger generations enjoy and are capable of - but I also know how to survive without it. One of my concerns is that many children in the younger generations are too reliant upon technology (particularly artificial intelligence) and don't know how to manage life. They haven't learned (haven't needed to learn) life skills that are necessary for surviving... and thriving in this harsh and unforgiving world. It goes way beyond the ability to earn money.
When I was a young adult, I also thought that I was more clever than those who were older than me. Now I look back in embarrassment on how foolish I was to think that way. I think every generation goes through this. We learn a few modern concepts or how to work with technology that didn't exist when our forebears were our age, so we assume that the older generation is "behind the times" and their methods are "obsolete" or "irrelevant." Nothing could be further from the truth. What is most disturbing is that this falsehood is promulgated by what are considered to be "reputable" sources, whereas in the time when I was a young adult, if we dared to publicly talk that way about "old" people, we would be put in our place - appropriately.
There are stereotypes about every demographic. These are unfair and do not represent actual facts or apply to every person within the demographic being satirized. The interesting thing is that for most of these stereotypes, it is not ethical (according to societal standards) to uphold stereotypes - except for a few. At present time, the stereotype of what is supposed to represent what an "old" person is like is accepted in the culture of "Political Correctness" and very few dare to challenge that culture. Add one of a few other demographic qualifiers (for instance: white, male, Christian, or conservative) and the stereotype is intensified exponentially - so much so, that any one of us who belongs to this demographic is not only expected to be snubbed by the aforementioned PC culture, but we are also vilified. What a horrible way to treat a human being!
It is fair to say that there are a number of people in ANY categorized demographic that fit the full bill of their stereotype, in an almost comedic manner. In fact, there are many cartoons, comic strips and sketches that take full advantage of the natural comedy in such demographic stereotypes. Right or wrong, some of these are funny. The old man yelling "Get of my lawn!" is a familiar trope that most of us might laugh at. Other demographic stereotypes, we are told, are not funny and if we laugh, we are complicit in bigotry - thus, Political Correctness, by nature is hypocritical and belongs in its own demographic category... worthy of comedic scorn.
That being said, there are also MANY who belong to every categorized demographic who are uncharacteristic of their stereotype and it's unfair and unethical to prejudge them. I'm also talking about older generations, or maybe I should bring this back to the original crux of this post: disparaging of the elderly. While there are many older people who are crotchety and fail to adapt to technology and modern societal conventions, these are not everybody. Keep in mind, there are also some in younger generations who are angry or who don't fit into society or don't understand technology.
The thing that I'm getting at is that there are many kind, wise and knowledgeable people who are advanced in their years. Some have even kept up rather well with technology and current events. Many older folks are still sharp as a whip and by staying current in their learning, they have seen and experienced MUCH MORE than someone who has only been on this planet for a fraction of their age. This gives them a great advantage, because they understand how to avoid many pitfalls in life and they know how to navigate around life situations that happen over and over and over again. They observe the follies of youth and could help those faced with similar situations... if only they'd listen and if only they didn't think they already know it all. We can learn a lot from the elderly portion of our population. Sure, there are a lot of concepts that are now irrelevant because times have changed, but we can still adapt and apply the principles and tailor them to our own conditions. The elderly are an asset to us that we shouldn't overlook and we certainly shouldn't discard or discredit.
Finally, if nothing else, this should emphasize that we should do everything in our power to reverse the course of divisiveness, especially when the divisions are based upon artificial qualifiers. If we are going to be divisive in any way, let's make a division between good and evil - not in the imagined, stereotypical, or lockstep narratives of a particular partisan political or social narrative, but only those people or ideals that are truly have been found guilty of evil acts or have a propensity to do so. And even then, a decent person need only look at evil and proclaim: "I will not partake" and that should be sufficient.
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