Ageism: yes it does exist!

1 Timothy 4:12, "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith in purity." KJV.

This is such an important verse because unfortunately too many of our young people are despised due to their age. Let me reiterate this reality: age is nothing but a number.

I believe that the usefulness of a person should not be determined by their age but by their willingness to learn, admit to making mistakes and their passion. It is a shame that younger and older people have to work harder to convince people of certain ideas, practices and their effectiveness towards whatever it is. We live in an economy in which those who are in their 50s, 60s and maybe even 70s are not able to seek employment because of the company having doubts that a person of that age can bring productivity and effectiveness to that service. Is that fair? Absolutely not, but it is the reality we deal with.

As a young man, to this day, I still believe I have to work extra hard to convince people of certain things. Not saying that I am right about everything (because I am not) but sometimes I feel like what I say can be said by somebody older and it gets more attention than what I said. Why? Because of my age. I have even heard of young preachers having to work harder to convince their congregation of certain truths simply because they were younger.

I am not saying that young people should not have to have discipline, correction, mentoring and instruction. I am saying that young people (as well as older people) should have the same right to express themselves and be heard. A young person's words should not be put automatically in the category of "inexperienced" or "ignorant" just because of our age. Yes, we do have a lot to learn and I am open to learning more, but my words should not be considered less effective because of my age.

Ageism is just another one of the "isms" that hurts our society and continues to question the idea that America is a place of equal opportunity. Let us learn to value each others opinions and effectiveness, even if it is someone young or someone old. I want to reemphasize that we as young people have A LOT to learn from the older generations, yet we deserve to be heard as well.

Again, let us value each other's opinions and effectiveness REGARDLESS of age.