Ageism vs. Wisdom of the Elders
Do you know this word: ‘ageism’?
‘Ageism’ is a word first coined in 1969 by American psychiatrist Robert N. Butler. He was referring to systematic stereotyping or discrimination against people because they are old.
Through the years, the definition of ‘ageism’ has evolved to mean prejudice against other age groups too, but ageism is still most commonly recognized as prejudice and discrimination against older people.
This can be a serious social problem – seniors denied care and understanding simply due to their age. Unfortunately, I’ve even seen such injustice in healthcare.
But ageism isn’t just a social problem. It can affect the self-image of individuals too. As people age, they often begin to view their lives as increasingly limited or unimportant — less meaningful. They turn the prejudice of ageism against themselves!
What Ageism Misses
Ageism affects more than the lives of older individuals. Ageism ‘dumbs down’ our whole culture. Any culture that places greatest value in youth overlooks the supreme treasure of old age – wisdom!
Traditional societies, worldwide, through time, have valued the wisdom of the elders. Tribes look to their elders for a depth of insight and guidance that’s less available from younger folks.
I saw this firsthand in my years of training in analytical psychology. We students all knew that, by and large, the great analysts were the old ones! They had the wisdom.
A Natural Tendency Toward Wisdom
There’s a study that sheds light on one way that older people naturally access more wisdom. (Yes, that includes your wisdom too!)
Researchers investigated the ‘cognition’ (thinking process) of younger people (college students) as compared to older people (aged 60–75). In the study, they discovered that the thinking of the older group was slower, but it was equally accurate.
When researchers encouraged the older participants to speed up, they were able to do so. They could even match the speed of the younger participants without significantly losing accuracy – but they preferred to go more slowly.
One researcher concluded: “In many simple tasks, the elderly take longer mainly because they decide to require more evidence to make their decisions.”
Sounds like wisdom, doesn’t it? Slower thinking that naturally favours more evidence in decision-making.
You might consider this the next time you notice that you’re taking a little extra time to think about things before deciding. This is natural. Why hurry? You’re accessing wisdom!
Let’s Have a Conversation:
Have you recently experienced ageism? In what way? What does wisdom mean for you? Have you noticed yourself growing in wisdom? How so?
Tags Getting Older
i kind of like going under the radar – many times i run into situations with others (young or old), and i can see we don’t have the same experiences — we can’t make anyone conscious of things they don’t know yet, so i choose to say (to myself) ‘aww, isn’t that cute – they just don’t know yet’ (for whatever reason) – maybe keep an eye that something doesn’t come crashing down on them as i walk away, but others have to do their own learning
and i trust and believe that if we remember we weren’t born old – that from us came great music, and lifetimes full of learning — i personally have run a Front End of a grocery store as well as donned a uniform and kept peace on the streets as well as in an over-populated facility. i have no problem using my voice to effect
i wasn’t born old, but i do enjoy flying under the radar and just kind of watching life happen some – enjoy wherever possible
I have seen a great difference in the way the elderly population gets treated in the US in particular. Here people don’t include them the same way that they do other age groups. They are treated as they don’t have the same contributions of energy and wit. I am ashamed of the treatment on many levels that the elderly receive here, that also includes from the medical industry. After all we are also the largest population in the country right now. I think that we should have our well deserved respect from the other age groups. Try including us in what you are doing. You have much to learn that you would benefit from about life.
i read somewhere (here at 60+, probably) that i might consider i should be interested now, not really ‘interesting’ — i liked this, as it opens the youngers up if i ask about them – you know they like that topic – lololol – try asking them – i get such great responses when i do — just a thought