Tuesday, 4/8/97
Letters
Age’s benefits
A few thoughts on the excellent article by Michael Daugherty on
the "Paradox of Ageism". What he describes as a paradox is also an
example of the need to respond to each person as an individual
rather than as a category … It is extremely tempting to short
circuit the very difficult and time consuming task of actually
knowing someone before forming an opinion about them. The short
circuit most commonly used is to focus on one or a few features and
then classify the person according to those characteristics. The
term commonly used for this is prejudice, but I do not mean only in
a negative sense.
When we are young, all "old" people are a part of a category and
judged according to our view of that class. Similarly so for
"older" people (however that may be defined). Even though I am much
farther along the age continuum than Mr. Daugherty, I too find
myself glancing at that slow driver blocking my way, spotting what
I consider to be "old" characteristics, and reacting based upon
what I see. It is all relative.
Mr. Daugherty also wonders what age does confer. While I would
agree that it is inappropriate to assume that the level of wisdom
of a person correlates to the number of years on the planet, after
much questioning of myself I have concluded that there is one thing
that age does confer. It is a quality that can be very valuable for
younger people to observe, question and find out about. That
quality is survivability.
Because I have lived as long as I have, I have survived many
situations that may seem impossible to someone who has not gone
through them. That hopelessness that sometimes comes to us when a
really difficult situation presents itself can become tolerable and
solvable after speaking with someone who has gone through it. Well,
after a few decades of life, one has gone through so many of these
that there often develops a new personal characteristic regarding
survival. This is a quality that was available to us in former days
when the ages mixed more frequently. Talking with Grandpa was often
valuable not so much for the particular insight he had, but because
there was something about him that gave us hope, and the
willingness to persevere.
It is one of the great tragedies of our modern American culture
that this mixing of ages has degraded rapidly to the point that we
now hide the elderly away in "safe" places (safe for them or us, I
wonder?). It grieves me when I see young people thinking that they
must rediscover everything about life, as though none had gone
before. Yes, I too was a rebellious youth (hell, as a former
"hippie", modern rebels seem tame in comparison). So I am aware
that my words may not convince. I also know that there is much we
can give to one another.
I am of the opinion that in order for this to happen, we must
each be willing to give up categorizing each other and increase our
willingness to know one another as an individual.
Philip Hoskins
BA ’61, JD ’64