Ageism at all Ages.

Within the next few years, men will be retiring at 66, or even 68, and women's retirement age will follow hard in the heels of the men's. It seems we can't afford to pay the pension bills of the over 65s as it is, so we will have to work longer to make up the cost. In a way, that is understandable, although many people will disagree, and some violently!


This made me think about the ages of our life. Have you noticed that Primary School children (yes, they are still children, in spite of their appearance) want to be older than they are? They want to look older, act older, and do things which older people do. They look towards High School where all these older and very mature students go. There are no children in High School now. They are all students. Of course, the students in High School all want to be older as well. They want to look older, act older, and do things which older people do. Sorry, did I just say that before? Anyway, they look towards College or University or work places, where these more mature adults go. 


When you are at College or University, or in your first job, you want to be older still, and in a 'relationship'. You don't 'go steady' anymore, you seem to flit about while looking for your prince or princess, and in the process kiss a lot of frogs! Before you know it, your childhood and the innocence of youth has gone, never to be retaken or recovered and you find yourself a parent with bills to pay and (ouch) responsibilities to shoulder. My question is simple. Was the urge to always be older, worth it?


Anyone who has watched the diet of TV programs aimed at young people, will see a very young, no taboos, no barriers, culture of actors who try to keep looking and behaving older than their 'screen image' actually is! Fun is usually poked at the younger and immature characters, who do not act and dress like them. I think young people have their own peer pressures, and unwritten rules, made up by themselves. The result is that childhood is something to be laughed at, and scorned, and never admitted to.


Predators have always been around and at every time in the past. That is nothing new, but am I wrong to think that there are many more than ever before? Predators are usually in the age group above you at least, and this is cause for concern. Since we have the very young now acting and dressing in a much older fashion than previous generations, we open them up to more danger, and yes with the advent of the internet age, bigger risks. Having squandered their childhood and innocence very early in life, I wonder if we, and they, are sitting on a ticking time bomb which may explode in a few years to come. Hard to say, but we will all know the outcome of that by the next generation's behaviour, when it will no longer be a question!


By the time this generation of children reach their own retirement age, they may not even remember the freedom and innocence of their childhood, and that would be sad!