We
live in a "throwaway society." Everything is about youth! So many
products are created or in most cases tweaked to push back the hands of time.
Skin treatments, plastic surgery, body contouring, instant weight loss
miracles. The latest craze is testosterone, the answer to everything.
Everything
is done to avoid aging and getting "old." It seems when a worker
reaches 50 years old, they are considered obsolete, useless, especially when a
company can hire younger workers cheaper. There is a great difference between
being smart and being wise. Hopefully we become wiser as we age. Being old is
not a crime. The real crime is the treatment of these workers and people.
Corporations
are always concerned about profit. By ridding themselves of older workers, they
are shooting themselves in the foot. Older workers bring wisdom and experience
to the market place. They know how to connect to clients on a personal level
and build trust and integrity. They take responsibility and have loyalty. Think
of how much money and the number of hours spent recruiting and training people
who leave or are laid off every few years, or even months. Acting in this
manner kills creativity. Everyone wants to be safe. There is no mentoring of
younger workers by those with experience.
There is a very
high suicide rate for men in their fifties, men who used to be thought of as
prime-age workers at the peak of their experience and ability.
● From 1999 to 2010, rates of suicide overall
have gone up, but the steepest rise was for midlife men.
● In those years, suicide rate rose from 20.6
per 100,000 to 30.7 per 100,000.
Our
nation has been promoting market solutions that pit midlife employees against
younger (or overseas) workers to drive down wages, benefits and job protections
in a race to the bottom!
It
is ironic, that despite our longevity, too many Americans are suffering from a
very shortened working life. The message to younger workers is a dismal one.
The American dream has faded.
This
is an ethical and socioeconomic evil, leading to missed productivity and
creativity, lost spending power, family disintegration, suicides and loss of
hope. Is this what people risk their lives to get to this country for? Is this the model we want to present to our
children of a bleak future?
Do
not let "profit" destroy the richness that experience and wisdom can
bring to our workplace, our society and our lives. If your lucky, you'll get
old too!!
Mark your calendar -- Thursday August 21st -- is National Senior Citizens Day in America.
It is the day to acknowledge the contributions made by senior citizens in
communities across the USA. It is the
time to recognize the longest survivors. When life is valued above profits in a
society, those who have lived the longest are remembered and honored -- not forgotten, put aside & ignored. Maybe
the fact that millions look forward to Black Friday, while most people don’t
seem to know anything about National
Senior Citizens Day, National Parent’s
Day or Constitution & Citizens
Day -- sends a message about the
values of our society.
Choose Life by Doing TOV!
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