Time To Get Real

Let me state for the record...

...that I love people over thirty. Adults make the world go round. I love going home to visit my parents. I like talking about fishing with my grandfather.

But, I'm starting to get a lot of condescending behaviour from people over thirty. I recognize that I work in two fields which most people my age have no experience in, but the level of rudeness I've been experiencing lately is alarming and annoying. I'll give you a list of some of the things I've been told recently:

1. "You're how old? I have fishing rods/t-shirts/socks/whatever older than you!"

2. "I'm older than you, so I know what I'm talking about."

3. "There's no talking to you because you think you know everything."

These three responses where to genuine questions I had about someone's opinion. In each case, I genuinely wanted to know why they thought what they did, and all I got back was a snippy childish response.

Why is it that when people feel threatened or embarrassed they feel the need to attack someone's age, or lack of experience? Why is it so hard for adults to admit when they're wrong?

I'm pretty much across the board with everyone the same way. If I make a mistake, I have no problem admitting it. I believe if you discover and correct a mistake early enough, you can prevent that mistake from becoming a bad habit, or even worse, a blind spot.

It seems that once people get to be a certain age, they feel they can do no wrong. That everything they do is beyond reproach.

I've always said, I have no problem getting older. I'll accept every gray strand of hair on my head, and every inch of wrinkled flesh as a war wound from life.

But after meeting a lot of people who are older, I'm suddenly worried. What if getting older means that I'll stop listening to other people, stop growing as a person, stop evolving my way of thinking? What if getting older is the same thing as going deaf and blind, while only getting louder?