Society’s unwritten law: If you are 55+ in age, you are considered retired or one step away from it. You are quietly viewed as next to useless, regardless of your expertise and experience in your chosen profession. You are out in the cow pasture (or should be) prancing slowly, grazing, and fertilizing – nothing else. No one asks you for advice; you are expected to give none. You are forgotten on your now-ancient birthdays and your personal holiday celebrations. Your M.D. will remind you of this often: When he can't find a solution to your problem, he will mouth such "widom-advice" as "Remember, you're not getting any younger, " or worse, "You're not a young chicken anymore." Your surgeon will reinforce it: "We have to take your age into consideration," followed by (sooner or later) the dreadful low-tone news to your family members minutes later following the surgery: "The surgery was a fantastic success, but due to his age, he died" -- comparable to "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?"
You wobble when walking, shake when speaking, look under the steering wheel when driving, and can barely see the traffic lights due to your cataracts. Euphemistically, you are “seasoned.” Dyphemistically, you are old and will be treated as such by most, especially the employers in the American Taliban Business World.
WK
