Lately I’ve been plagued with the topic of ageism. Its being bandied about in the news lately (with the over 70’s (almost!) losing their medical cards, the age action Ireland campaigns, and the Elder Abuse campaign) so I decided to look up its meaning.
Here’s what I found:
Age-ism n. Discrimination based on age, especially prejudice towards the elderly.
That makes sense. I have to say though, that prejudice against young people has definitely become an issue as well – and gets far less coverage. Is that because we young people are not as vulnerable? That we’re not as respected because we’re not as serious? Or is it just because as a generation – we’re lazy?
I don’t know about other cultures – but here in Ireland, the elderly in society command a certain amount of respect. They’ve lived through a lot (lets not forget, Ireland has had a rough century!) and they know a great deal about the world – so of course we should take care of them and treat them as they should be treated!
My issue is when giving respect doesn’t command it back. It’s all too easy for older people to say “young people have no respect!” – whereas if I said that about an older member of society, I’d be completely shot down.
Ok, so where is all this coming from? Well, other than it being prevalent in the news at the moment – I have had the opportunity to work with senior citizens in the states and have had a blast doing so. These are not your stereotypical “old dears” – these are high flying, partying and sharp people. I took them out on day tours of NYC over the summer and for the most part we had a brilliant time together. However, the minute something went wrong on a trip (and thankfully this wasn’t an everyday occurrence) the first thing someone would say to me, despite me trying my very hardest to resolve the issue, was: “You have no respect, young lady.” It was like a “go-to” phrase when things went wrong. And never once did I raise my voice, use bad language or behave impolitely during these situations.
Lately, I had another incident where I feel someone was ageist towards me. I can’t give specifics, but the person in question felt that he could be rude, interrupt me and use foul language towards me in a class room situation – and the lecturer (of a similar age) not only repeated his sentiments, but did so with a laugh and a wink. It caught me so off guard and got me so upset I didn’t know how to respond.
When you’re put in a situation where your elder is disrespectful to you, how can you respond without looking like a rude little brat?
I chose not to respond. But if I could go back and do it again, I’d stand up for myself and point out that ageism works in both directions.
