Old dogs and new tricks

Even when employers do not specify age limits for job openings, including those to head big organizations, they have in mind a person south of 50 years old. The adjectives of dynamic, energetic, and innovative which come to mind when putting together a profile of a recruitment target seem to attach more naturally to a young person, not someone who gets a senior citizen discount in the restaurant or has to replant his hair.

Business safeguards the lowering of the age median in its organizations by imposing a mandatory retirement age. This ensures that after the honoree blows out 60 candles on his cake, he will be shown the door, right after he eats his slice of the cake.

The youth culture is especially obligatory in entertainment and sports where someone in his thirties can be considered a has-been. There are few exceptions and they include someone like Eddie Garcia who even 20 years ago played an old man who wears a lounging robe at home.

The culture of youth has also extended to the political arena. Spokespersons don’t even have laugh lines and candidates for the highest positions in the land, including those who abruptly leave their parties, look like they can do cameo roles for sitcoms playing the older brother of a teeny-bopper. This fascination with young people taking the reins of government and business lies in the oft-quoted phrase -- you can°t teach old dogs new tricks.

This adage for the presumed unwillingness to learn on the part of Generation P (for passé) is belied by everyday experiences. Didn’t these old dogs learn the new tricks of SMS, e-mail, blogging, online shopping and travel arrangements, and the ability to make daily withdrawals from the ATM?

This prejudice against age (sometimes called "ageism") is pernicious as it seems enough to dismiss somebody who comes out for a TV interview simply by describing him as old without needing to refute the points he is making. It is as if the fact of age alone is enough reason for being treated if not with contempt, then with only a polite pretense of being listened to.

But is an old person automatically ignored?

Certain positions are unaffected by age. A partial list of these will suffice. Gazillionaires can have hair growing out of their ears and still be accorded a vast measure of respect punctuated by genuflection -- Warren Buffett and Ted Turner in their eighties (age, not the decade) are always taken seriously. Moguls who acquire companies and send their stock prices soaring are courted by those who want to join the new barbarians at the gate -- Sir, I want to register my interest in being part of your team (and heading it). My college composition on teen habits in media was ahead of its time. Religious figures have to be old to be accorded prophetic status. Young evangelists are seen as businessmeen in sheep’s clothing.

Ironically, these figures exempt from the age prejudice do not themselves hire or associate with others in their age bracket, perhaps fearful of calling attention to their retireability. Instead they surround themselves with much younger associates, whether male or female, so that they can be accorded with the compliment of being young at heart.

Ageism fuels the high demand for cosmetic alterations like removing of eye bags (madam, you need to check in those bags) and facial stretches to remove wrinkles. These cosmetic intrusions have created a common look among women of a certain age -- they all seem like Eskimos incapable of smiling.

But old dogs should still be given their day. After all, by sheer longevity they have learned many of the lessons life has to teach. They’ve had their shares of failures and disappointments, along with triumphs and recognition.

As John Cleese puts it, "Age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill." It is easy to forget that old dogs can still use their old tricks on new dogs that still have to learn them. In a dog-eat-dog world, let’s remember that -- life is a bitch.

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Fence Sitter -- By A. R. Samson

Old dogs and new tricks