It’s been
over 30 years since I passed the “age of trust.” It’s like I reached 30 again. Does that mean that I’m doubly
untrustworthy? Or does that mean young people can trust me again?
Discriminating by age alone can be confusing.
So I’ve had
to rethink the old truism that you can’t trust anyone over 30. It’s somewhat
sweet that my generation is redefining what it means to be “old,” as we redefined
what youth culture meant when we were practicing peace and love. Still, ageism —
prejudice or discrimination against a particular age group, especially the
elderly — was alive and well with the baby boomers, as it is now with the
millennials. Interestingly, our parents’ generation thought we were as
narcissistic as we believe the Facebook generation of today to be.
To
paraphrase Joni Mitchell:
I’ve experienced attitudes towards age
from both sides now
From young and old and still somehow
The younger generation thinks they know the truth
From young and old and still somehow
The younger generation thinks they know the truth
While their elders lament the misguided
ways of the youth…
As I age, I
lament my passed youth and find myself feeling like George Bernard Shaw that
“youth is wasted on the young.” And sometimes I just wish I had mine to live
over. While that’s fairly normal, I now know, thanks to the benefit of the
passage of time, that trust has to do with many
factors — of which age is not even one.
Behind this good writer is a great editor; Mark Bloom. Learn more about Mark's talents at
Younger Generation- John Sebastian
Why must every generation think their folks are square?
And no matter where their heads are, they know mom's ain’t
there.
Cause' I swore when I was small, that I'd remember when,
I knew what's wrong with them, that I was smaller than.
And then I know that all I've learned, my kid assumes.
And all my deepest worries must be his cartoons.
And still I'll try to tell him all the things I've done,
relating to what he can do when he becomes a man.
And still he'll stick his fingers in the fan.
Dar Williams- You’re Aging Well
"I'm so glad that you finally made it here
With the things you know now, that only time could tell
Looking back, seeing far, landing right where we are
And oh, you're aging, oh and I am aging oh, aren't we aging well?"
With the things you know now, that only time could tell
Looking back, seeing far, landing right where we are
And oh, you're aging, oh and I am aging oh, aren't we aging well?"
