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Veterans in the War against Ageism


This is a story about my mother. Like everyone in her generation – the Veterans, born before the end of the War – she has a wealth of life experience to draw on as she negotiates the slings and arrows of old age, including ageism. We Boomers can learn a lot from them.

 Like many older people, she doesn’t make a fuss or seek sympathy, but she won’t let scammers who seek to prey on seniors get away with it.

Take the morning the phone rang, and it was “Simon” from Microsoft. He was calling, he said, because she had a virus in her computer. In her best “little old lady” voice, Mum sounded panic-stricken.  “A virus?” she cried, “How could I have a virus? Is it fatal? What about my grandchildren, could they catch it from me?”

In vain, Simon tried to reassure her. All she had to do, he explained repeatedly and patiently, was to turn on her computer and he would fix it. Mum wasn’t listening. She couldn’t be distracted from the fearful consequences of a virus in her computer. Each time she seemed about to turn it on, she thought of something else.  Would she have to be quarantined?  What about her neighbours? Was there a cure? How much would it cost?

This went on until my 87- year-old Mum agreed to turn her computer on. “I’ll just have to go and get it”, she said, “I won’t be a minute”.

She went to her room and made the bed. Then she got out the iron, set up the board and started the ironing. Eventually, to avoid missing a call from a friend or family member, she replaced the receiver.  The phone rang almost Immediately. It was Simon.

“I’m so glad you rang back”, she said, in her frail, trembling quaver. “I’ve looked and looked”, she bemoaned, “and I can’t find it anywhere”.
“What can’t you find?” asked Simon.
“The computer. It’s not in my bedroom. I’ve gone through all the cupboards and I can’t find it.”
“Do you actually have a computer?” ventured Simon.
“I must have” wailed Mum, “you said it had a virus”.   

 Boom. 

So that’s how you deal with ageism while having a little fun yourself.  Some of us Boomers have spent the better part of our working lives trying to stop racism, sexism, homophobia, disability discrimination and every other- ism in, and not in, the dictionary. Anti-discrimination laws were enacted from the ‘70’s and we took the principles of equal opportunity to heart.

Now we often find that we are the only group to which those principles don't apply. Age discrimination is against the law, but political correctness doesn't inhibit contempt or ridicule of older people. At its worst, ageism justifies elder abuse. Its a serious issue and we can't stand by and let it happen. 
    

OK Boomers?              

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