I was on the phone the other day.
I had to change an appointment for something and a young person was on the phone helping me.
And I was driving at the time.
The person helping me was displaying some irritation that I couldn’t commit to a new date on the spot.
I told him I didn’t have my calendar with me. I would have to call him back. If I kept a digital calendar, I could have just clicked over and dealt with it.
He sighed and said, “Oh yeah, my mother still has a paper calendar.”
I accept the fact the I am probably old enough to be his mother.
I accept the fact that he’s probably a snot-nosed kid who never knew life before cell phones and computers.
Yet, I’m pretty good with technology, for an older gal.
So this snot-nosed kid made me wonder – Is this ageism?
I don’t mind being called “ma’am”.
I actually like it when people open doors or offer to pick things up for me that I drop.
I clearly see ADVANTAGES to aging. I am so much more at home with myself and with the world.
Every generation chooses how they will treat older people.
In other cultures and in earlier days, older people were respected.
It’s too easy now to be dismissed, or worse – invisible.
We stash our elderly in nursing homes so we don’t have to deal with them.
I’m not going to go that quietly.
How about you?
