I have seen the future and it is our past.
Enough with the Young and the Restless, I'm talking about the old and the not-ready-for rest.
Or should I say older?
It seems everywhere you look there's a story on older folk who refuse to simply disappear. They're prominently featured in a cover story in the latest U.S. News and World Report which describes these largely aging boomers as "zoomers," those 55 or better looking to make their own lives better.
No rocking chairs for these folks. More like just plain rocking.
Today's Wall Street Journal goes a step further pointing out that the oldest baby boomers are getting a little agitated. You know why? Because in this youth-obsessed culture, they get no respect. They are the Rodney Dangerfields of demographic groups.
I think it's stupid and so do they.
And if these articles are right, they're mad as hell and are not going to take it anymore. Hearing their stories makes my blood boil! There's one about a 60-year old woman who overheard her Generation X colleague saying, "If I get that old I'd be crazy to still be working." Or another, who suggested to her young boss a better way to run the shop because she had seen his way fail before. She warned. He ignored. She survived. He was fired.
There is a lesson here. We are all getting old, my friends, but let's not get stupid, besides. I'm not faulting the young, or the younger. I've just learned a lot from the old and the older. And the older I get, the more I realize the more I've learned. It sounds trite. I know it sounds simple. But I know what I know because I know what they know. And they know a lot more than I know.
Marketers and TV types could do worse than listen to these folks. They have the money, the clout and the character. At the very least, they should have our attention.
Because, look in the mirror, my friends. Young and old, they are us.
- Watch Neil Cavuto's Common Sense weekdays at 4 p.m. ET on Your World with Neil Cavuto. And send your comments to: cavuto@foxnews.com
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