Our asinine arrogance of marginalizing the elderly

Here’s a typical weekend discourse with an average teen or young adult, nowadays:

?“I’m bored”

?????????????“Why don’t you read a book”?

?????“I’m not THAT bored”

Today’s reality of speedy progress, fierce competition and increasingly widespread automation, has undoubtedly yielded significant progress in productivity and admirable technological advancements. Formal education and most lines of work, have geometrically grown and expanded, eliminating boundaries of space and time in ways that we couldn’t even dream about, a few decades ago.

We bask in this mesmerizing “sun of progress”, almost in a sense of childhood abandon.

Things are increasingly accomplished faster, easier, with less effort.

News is out there immediately, we consume it instantly, we assume what is shared online is true, we become more sluggish by the day, in contesting “the facts” – it’s okay to be distracted by hundreds of headlines and even more images: “Just give me the headlines” – surface impressions and diagonal reading have replaced time-consuming research, focus and concentration. The latter are seen as a thing of the past. Inevitably, this practice has also begun to endanger the virtues of patience, endurance and perseverance.

Comfortable and immediate access to almost everything from our couch, gradually whets our appetite for an even speedier, convenient and scot-free way of life. Emphasis on learning quickly to deliver results even quicker, has led to the glorification of “minimizing time and dedication to achieve desired results”, creating space for a generation that is taught to exonerate “cutting corners” and flagrantly snub everything that isn’t fast-paced, instantly gratifying, youthful looking and innovative.

Fast, easy, of less effort. Surface and breadth impressions versus depth understanding – engaging distraction versus thoughtful focus.

Amidst this juggernaut transformation of our world, retaining concentration on a single topic, having the wisdom of biding our time and being more skeptical, is gradually deteriorating. As is the value society places on the elder generations, who actually practiced this way of living and operating and, in much more demanding circumstances than ours.

Have we gone from overwhelming patriarchy, hierarchy and tradition-mania, to the other extreme of imbecilely marginalizing the old and all the principles they thrived upon, just because we decided that “what got us here, won’t get us there”? Were we too quick to cross-out ALL previously established learnings of our history, as “non relevant” to innovation and progress?

I am consistently saddened by the scornful arrogance we collectively show towards the contributions that older generations could make today, to so many aspects of life: education, work, start-ups, large corporations, balancing friendships, relationships, family-ties.

How carelessly and guiltlessly have we forgotten that wisdom and understanding are only acquired by time and experience? And that this is all at arm’s reach, through the connections and leveraging of our elders? We are missing out on an incredible wealth of teachings that only they can convey to us and contribute to making all the above aspects of our lives, smarter and more fulfilling.

Often I hear “I’m too busy and have no time to spend with grandma”.

In fact, we’ve got no time to NOT spend time with grandma.

Or a veteran colleague. Or an elderly friend.

The more we miss this opportunity to tap on their values, learn from their wisdom and choose instead to allow our muscle of patience and focus to weaken, the faster we’ll become a shallow, passe-partout, “easy come, easy go” element in society.

Who may, surely, temporarily shine and get by with limited depth or cultivation, but bound to be exposed for our actual void, inside. Not to others with similar voids, obviously – but to the fewer, who are actually equipped with the long-life skills to help build more empathetic, patient, resilient and compassionate people, for a more balanced and harmonious society.

This older generation is an overlooked blessing we have here and now. Carrying loads of knowledge and wisdom, that we can’t possibly expect to gain just by going to a great school – let alone by relying on easily consumed pop-psychology articles online or piling up business books and multitudes of specialized articles. Our elders are a living source of potential for us; a treasure of experiences to be shared and learnings to be passed on.

Let’s be truly revolutionary in seeing the power of that generation for what it is.

Let’s be truly inclusive and immerse them into our upbringing, our jobs, our growth. Today.

Let’s open our minds to the unique gifts they can offer to our work and companies.

Let’s not be obstinate about where innovation comes from: it comes from everywhere, young and old alike.

Marginalizing the elderly, only leads to our own detriment.