Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2025

Abstract

I just got off the phone with a representative of an investment firm. As soon as I told her my date of birth, she changed. She spoke more slowly. She became cheerier and kinder, less professional. She began talking to me as if I were a little child, who had never done anything online before. It was a little humiliating, but not her fault. In our culture we are obsessed with youthfulness, and we view the elderly as frail in mind and body.

We can’t imagine that anyone with an older face is with it enough to do anything meaningful. Some younger people wonder why the older generation doesn’t simply ride off into the sunset or sit on a beach in retirement, so that others can have their jobs. Sometimes younger people see an older face and body, especially of women, and equate the leader with antique times and tired solutions.

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