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"Senior Citizens Are the New Minority"
When I was growing up in South Carolina I saw blatant bigotry from time to time. Blacks were treated as less than equals and even the "good" people acted this way. It has taken a long time but finally some of the bigotry towards blacks has decreased. It hasn't been eradicated but things have improved.
When I lived in California I learned that bigotry is not confined by or towards one race. There the Mexicans were treated as less than equal. They were the class of people who were looked down on and treated like they were less. And some of the people who were the most prejudiced against them were blacks. Explain that.
What that taught me is that all people want someone, some group on which they can look down. They need to feel better than someone else so they can feel better about themselves. Strange as that logic is, that is the way I see it.
That is why I now feel Senior Citizens are the new minority. I hear it all the time. Old people are lousy drivers. Old people don't use their brains. Old people get in the way. And on and on and on. Maybe I take offense to that kind of talk because I am getting older. And the truth is that those of us who may not be senior citizens yet are going to be some day.
A few nights ago we invited some friends of ours to go out and eat. This was at the same time the "Family Motor Coach Association" was having convention in Perry where I live. We were trying to decide where we would go eat so as to have the least wait for a table when my friend said, "Let's eat Mexican food. Old people don't like Mexican food."
That was news to me. Why would old people not like Mexican food? But my friend was adamant that he was right. "It's too spicy for them," he said.
Recently a friend and I were driving to Atlanta. I made comment about how angry it makes me when someone gets in the far left lane and stays there, regardless of how traffic is backed up behind him or her. "Yeah," my friend said, "old people love that far left lane."
What was funny was when we got past the vehicle in the far left lane that had angered me, it was a car being driven by a young man in his twenties. When I pointed this out to my friend he quickly replied, "nine out of ten times it will be some old person."
I spoke to a group in a nursing home recently. I had been invited to talk about my new book. The people in the nursing home gathered in the lobby and were quite attentive. After it was over and I was getting ready to leave the owner/operator thanked me for coming. She told me how much the people appreciated anyone coming out to spend time with them. She said a lot of them never had visitors
Here in America I don't think we revere our elderly. I think we get tired of them and annoyed that they can't function as we do. I think we decide we are better than they are and that is why we view them with disdain.
For whatever reason the senior citizens among us are the new minority. This is not in terms of numbers but in terms of being those we look down on the most. |
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©2005 Jackie K. Cooper |
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