September 7, 2007

• Ageism

  A pat on the head, a sly dismissal that, "You're still young",
  exhortations to "be good" and tongue-in-cheek questions of, "Were
  you good this weekend?", being overlooked and passed up for better
  things, and being blamed when things went wrong (all jokingly of
  course).  These were the little annoyances that I endured every day for
  a few months at my part-time job.  I dismissed them, convincing myself
  that I only worked there a few hours a week, so it should be fine.  I
  persuaded myself that I could just press through it, because work
  is not 'my whole life' anyway.  But as more and more days passed, the
  little 'nothings' turned into something and it made me dread being at work, where my coworkers ages 80, 60 and 40 were overwhelmingly ageist. 

   

  Of course, I didn't recognize it as ageism at first.  Ageism is
  usually connected to discrimination against older persons, however, it
  can be defined as any form of prejudice against another individual
  based solely on their age.  There is less awareness about ageism than
  there is about racism and sexism, but it is a harmful prejudice that
  negatively affects many.  Any time there is a denial of the basic
  God-given human rights of another person because of prejudice (whether
  it be for gender, race, class or age), injustice is occurring. 

   

  It didn't immediately occur to me that I was a victim of ageism,
  but I knew it bothered me.  I felt the unfairness and injustice as I
  was being belittled daily.  In so many ways, I felt powerless to do
  anything about it, because this 'levity' seemed to define our work
  culture -- and I hated it.

   

  Once I began to be fully cognizant of the injustice, however, I
  began to fight back to change the work culture.  Owning up to my own
  errors is an integral part in what it means for me to be a
  Christ-follower, but I'm not responsible for others' mistakes as well. 
  I began to refuse to be blamed for things, and I told my boss that I
  disliked the motto on the magnet he had displayed in his office, "To
  err is human; to blame it on somebody else is more human."  Levity is a
  value to him, but he said out of respect for me, he would consciously
  make an effort to omit that kind of jesting.

   

  Things have been much better since our discussions, and I enjoy
  being at work again... but I wonder how many others have had to endure
  this kind of injustice -- whether as an older individual who endures
  mistreatment or a younger individual who is overlooked -- or have even
  been aware that an injustice was taking place. 

   

  Have you experienced this or had any awareness of this thing called 'ageism'?  Would you call it an injustice? 

  Personally, it seems like it happens a lot in Asian culture.

  • 4:37 pm
  • 4 Comments