Boomer Bardo

Baby Boomers Confront Ageism – Or Do They?

Ageism. What an ugly word.

And anyway – what does it mean? Some old geezer complaining that younger folks criticize and disrespect everything s/he worked a lifetime to accomplish? Wait a minute – that’s me?!*$# Ever find yourself in a situation – job interview or whatever – in which you very strongly suspect that Ageism is being applied towards you, but of course, you can’t prove it?

How does our society view older folks? Now that Baby Boomers are entering retirement age in vast numbers in the next few years: will we be perceived as ‘cool’? Or as just terribly old and outmoded? To a large degree – that depends on Baby Boomers themselves – and how much we let our opinions be known. At present, Ageism is thriving in the hiring processes of companies in a reeling economy.

Ageism is the Silent Plague. Like racial hiring discrimination in the 1950’s – at present – Ageism cannot even be mentioned at without an insta-denial (!) from 20- or 30-somethings; or even Boomers themselves. How bad does the hiring economy need to get – and how far do some unlucky Boomers need to fall (becoming homeless, etc) – before even the IDEA of Ageism occurring – CAN EVEN BE DISCUSSED OPENLY?!

Baby Boomers have, over the years, taken on huge causes. Causes such as: Pollution (the original Earth Day), crooked Presidents (’I mis-spoke myself!’), Social Injustice (integration, racial profiling, Gender Discrimination and Equal Work for Equal Pay) – and more in a list too long to list here.

Boomers in general are sticklers for the ideals of fairness, ethical behavior, development of renewal energy resources and affordable health care. That’s the ideal. But what is the reality? Boomers are actually too diverse a group to categorize in any particular way.

But we can all agree on one thing: Ageism is not hip! And yes, we are STILL cool. But we ARE getting mad as hell regarding the lack of employment opportunities for the over-45 crowd. Most of us cannot afford to retire in 2009 anyway.

But – how long do we say nothing and silently take it? Do we all honestly believe that we are the only ones experiencing the ’shame’ of being continually passed over for hiring in favor of younger, more inexperienced (and possibly cheaper) workers? Or the humiliation of always being the first to be laid off or fired?

Many Boomers would just like a job right now – any job.