OPINION:
I want to make people aware of a social problem which seems to receive very little attention: ageism and age discrimination. I never understood why I’ve felt mistreated by a lot of people I have known in the world of politics in recent years, but I believe I may have found the answer.
More and more of my former acquaintances seem to have no interest in my involvement in matters and in what I think, and believe or have to say. I don’t think I’ve become dumber in my senior years, so what’s different about me now? My wife summed it up well. She said to me, “Stew, you are about to turn 71 years of age. It is not that you have somehow become an unlikable idiot who doesn’t know what he is talking about. You are old. The number-one complaint and grievance of the elderly is that they feel that they have become invisible to younger people, especially to people under the age of 50.”
Ouch. That hurts.
STEWART B. EPSTEIN
Rochester, N.Y.
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