‘Who does not have an old man, should buy one’
I heard this statement quite a lot in my childhood. Back then I did not understand it, especially since I had grandparents, and in the neighborhood I lived in, at night we would listen to stories told by my and other children’s grandparents. They were stories about the war, about the famine that followed, about legionnaires, communists, about spells and phenomena that they could only explain through the existences of some supernatural powers. On summer nights midnight would ensue while listening to them talk.
Our parents would let us stay and listen to their stories until we dropped dead of tiredness. They kept telling us that we have to learn from those who are older, to respect them. I do not think we were always respectful, primary schoolers don’t shine when it comes to respect, it is a value they understand later in life. When I travelled to Japan, a few months ago, I understood that they have found ways to keep old people “busy”, that they give the opportunity to those who retire to have honorific jobs, the primary reason being that of giving them a feeling of usefulness. This sensation is essential, contributes to good psychological well-being, decreases diseases, government spending on healthcare for old people decreases.
There is a saying that you can tell a society by the way they treat their elderly.
Coming back to our society, currently, it seems that if you are older than 40 years old you become redundant for many. If you are jobless after that age, it is increasingly more difficult to get hired. Broadly speaking, companies prefer younger people, without any experience. Why? It’s simple: they are cheaper, can be molded more easily, they do not have well-formed opinions, they are more tractable. In fact, companies do not have preferences; they are just legal entities. The employees within the companies are responsible for maintaining a balance, for resisting age discrimination (or any other form).
I believe that it is an inappropriate approach both for youngsters and those older. Respect does not depend on age, social status, business card. It is more pertaining to human nature in general. Or is it?