Soozi in her sixties on the pole, used with permission

Lots of discussion on ageism, driven by so many forces. How are you doing?

Back in 2020 when I got back from Africa to a country which had lost its mind over Covid, one lovely woman in her sixties was horrified at the age hate which was directed at us Boomers simply because....we were older.

In a heartbreaking story over on Medium she expressed her sadness that simply because she was over sixty, somehow overnight she was the enemy. Many of us can relate. Those of color know this from birth, but this isn't that article. This is about the -ism which eats at us all.

Nothing new here. That kind of idiocy has always been with us. When we get old enough we see it and suddenly, shockingly, feel it because now we are old.

We're in the way. We take up space and resources.

Move over granddad.

There's also considerable push back. That's necessary when a Yale professor spouts that anyone over 65 should commit suicide, at least in Japan.

Really now. You first.

What remarkable hubris the young have until they aren't any more, then realize that not only did they waste much of their youth (don't we all), then scrambled too damned hard for decades, only to be spat out finally to do what they wish with what time is left to them.

Suddenly, they, like us, are in the spotlight of new haters who have decided that now THEY are the enemy.

Ah. So that's what it was like for my grandparents. My folks.

Here are a few articles to consider with one piece which ends on a high note. We've been needing that lately.

Ageism is Alive and Well - NCPSSM
Despite their enormous contributions to our country, seniors are continually devalued as members of society. When someone calls another person “old,” it’s understood as an insult, not a sign of respect. “In our society, older people too often are considered to be absent and invisible,” says our seni…
NCPSSMWalter Gottlieb

The age of the grandparent has arrived
The ratio of grandparents to children is higher than ever before. That has big consequences
The EconomistThe Economist

https://www.laprogressive.com/social-justice/ross-douthat-old-people

Only if we are truly fortunate do we get to live long enough to regret the ill will we may have felt towards our elders. And only with the frosting of our own hair, the end in sight, can we truly value time, and how we spend it. It does become ever so much more precious, right about the time others want to take it from us.

They can't have it.

Eat well. Move much. Love hard. And have a reason to get up every day. That is how we push back.
Joshua Woronniecki for Unsplash

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