Catherine, your views align with those of many others, which is why the Elder movement is gaining ground quickly. My view is to stop playing engaging the current culture. They're saturated with ageism. They can’t hear you. At this time, it is a waste of time. Won’t be able to change the culture by arguing with it.
My strategy is to focus on your own Elderhood and on becoming an authentic Elder. The ability to be in the world more ably, more at ease, more peaceful, yet with more powerfully. The number of actual contemporary Elders is growing, and when we can collate the hundreds of Elders into one voice, it will be loud, it will be piercing, and it will be heard. But we need to develop ourselves first as Elders.
You have wisdom and very real value to contribute. But we need to be heard and recognized by the culture. And therefore, we need to be responsible for being that person worthy of being heard. And for me, that’s the work now. Increasing our self-worth, which is absolutely an outcome of becoming an Elder. You recognize and appreciate your worth. We first must believe it in ourselves. You can’t give it if you don’t have it in yourself.
The distinction between “can you still produce?” and “what do you now see that the rest of us cannot?” is one of the most important reframes I have encountered in this space, and it sits at the heart of why so many experienced professionals feel invisible precisely at the moment their judgment and perspective are most valuable. What I find in working with senior professionals is that the transition away from a purely worker identity is not a loss but a liberation — though it rarely feels that way until someone helps you see what you are actually moving towards rather than what you are leaving behind.
Hi Marc. You make me think as usual. I'm in the UK where attitudes may be slightly different (although definitely not more accepting). What I see here is too little emphasis on transition to a working pattern that reflects the fact that aging bodies either can't or don't want to work in the same pattern as they did 30 years previously. The raising of the retirement/pension age doesn't acknowledge this. But individuals aren't always taking initiative either. It's a shift that must be planned for in advance. For many of us, this means a transition to self employment. While everyone may not be cut out for this, support or encouragement to consider it, plan for it train/retrain as necessary for it is a needed cultural shift. I like your point that a main issue is current western cultures are developed around "workers" and the role of elder is neither aspired to or honoured. There's a strange attachment to youth - and blindness to the benefits of aging. After all, none of us managed to attain spiritual and emotional maturity, without aging chronologically in the process! Currently, the culture doesn't hand us the role of elder. We have to take that role, and claim it ourselves. Thanks for writing about this issue.
Catherine, your views align with those of many others, which is why the Elder movement is gaining ground quickly. My view is to stop playing engaging the current culture. They're saturated with ageism. They can’t hear you. At this time, it is a waste of time. Won’t be able to change the culture by arguing with it.
My strategy is to focus on your own Elderhood and on becoming an authentic Elder. The ability to be in the world more ably, more at ease, more peaceful, yet with more powerfully. The number of actual contemporary Elders is growing, and when we can collate the hundreds of Elders into one voice, it will be loud, it will be piercing, and it will be heard. But we need to develop ourselves first as Elders.
You have wisdom and very real value to contribute. But we need to be heard and recognized by the culture. And therefore, we need to be responsible for being that person worthy of being heard. And for me, that’s the work now. Increasing our self-worth, which is absolutely an outcome of becoming an Elder. You recognize and appreciate your worth. We first must believe it in ourselves. You can’t give it if you don’t have it in yourself.
The distinction between “can you still produce?” and “what do you now see that the rest of us cannot?” is one of the most important reframes I have encountered in this space, and it sits at the heart of why so many experienced professionals feel invisible precisely at the moment their judgment and perspective are most valuable. What I find in working with senior professionals is that the transition away from a purely worker identity is not a loss but a liberation — though it rarely feels that way until someone helps you see what you are actually moving towards rather than what you are leaving behind.
Hi Marc. You make me think as usual. I'm in the UK where attitudes may be slightly different (although definitely not more accepting). What I see here is too little emphasis on transition to a working pattern that reflects the fact that aging bodies either can't or don't want to work in the same pattern as they did 30 years previously. The raising of the retirement/pension age doesn't acknowledge this. But individuals aren't always taking initiative either. It's a shift that must be planned for in advance. For many of us, this means a transition to self employment. While everyone may not be cut out for this, support or encouragement to consider it, plan for it train/retrain as necessary for it is a needed cultural shift. I like your point that a main issue is current western cultures are developed around "workers" and the role of elder is neither aspired to or honoured. There's a strange attachment to youth - and blindness to the benefits of aging. After all, none of us managed to attain spiritual and emotional maturity, without aging chronologically in the process! Currently, the culture doesn't hand us the role of elder. We have to take that role, and claim it ourselves. Thanks for writing about this issue.