If Your Best Times are in the Past, It’s Time to Create a Better Future

 

                                                               Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart

Time is a cruel mistress. As we age it is impossible to maintain the physical abilities we enjoyed when we were half our age. However, I hope that life has taught us many valuable lessons and therefore we are wiser and possess more knowledge about the world we live in and the reality which exists around us.

I will be 77 years old in just over a week. When I turned 70, I began to fall into a trap. Memories of my past made me sad. Although many of them will be cherished forever, I allowed myself to believe that the future would never contain great joy and I would fail to find excitement in my meager accomplishments as a much older man. This form of “defeatism” must be quashed. I am learning to accept what I cannot do and treasure what I can do.

Everything in our society confirms one fact: Agism is a serious problem in 21st century America.

The late-night comics, who are getting older themselves, constantly make fun of President Biden and older Americans in general. During 2009 and 2010 I was in management for the 2010 Decennial Census. The hiring process is simple. Everyone takes the same test, and the highest scores receive opportunities for interviews and for non-management, immediate job offers. There is no opportunity for discrimination.

In our office here in Reno, we eventually had about 100 men and women. Their ages ranged between 18 and 80. Each of these fine Americans contributed greatly to an enormous, challenging project. It was completed ahead of schedule and billions of dollars under budget. As we completed our projects, we had some time to learn about each other. Men and women my age or older discussed the age discrimination we faced in the private sector. By giving them our social security numbers they immediately knew our approximate age and we were often rejected for possible employment. Some of those individuals were previously managers in various areas of the working world. Included in this group was a lawyer, a computer programmer, and a scientist. They worked hard for just $10 per hour.

Knowing this fact will hopefully remove some of the frustration. It’s not our fault, The blame rests squarely on corporate America.

For myself, the choice came easy. I began writing. I wrote my first novel, and am working on my 10^th. I also wrote for a Las Vegas based newspaper, and later for online information cites. I haven’t made a lot of money, yet, but it is satisfying and I feel a sense of accomplishment.

Through all of my working years, I never had this type of opportunity. My numerous “careers” involved spending 40-60 hours a week making someone else huge amounts of money, and working on Holidays and other special events.

Agism is real. Prejudice from young Americans for seniors is all too frequently real. Also real is getting old and being forced to deal with many problems understood only by our peers.

Don’t feel sorry for us, give us the respect we deserve for what we have done and could have done in our final years.

Op-ed by James Turnage

My nine novels are available on Amazon’s free Kindle app