photo credit: ted.com
People are always looking for easier ways and helpful shortcuts to do tedious, arduous jobs. Why struggle to tow a stopped disabled car off the middle of a road? Put it in neutral and push. Pulse veggies in a blender a couple of times and voilà! They’re finely chopped. You get the idea.
Fighting ageism is an enormous task in today’s world. It’s a very serious one, too, because the lives of people in every generation depend on all of us finding ways to end the age-based discrimination that denies individuals equity, security, autonomy, and quality of life. Fortunately, every once in a while, those of us who have been hitting brick walls in the hope of making a breakthrough happily discover that someone else has just developed a powerful tool or a method that can help us make significant progress more quickly and effectively.
Such a tool has just been added to our toolbox. Ashton Applewhite, activist and author of This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism, recently delivered an 11-minute barn-burning TED Talk called “Let’s End Ageism” that is the clearest and most concise, entertaining, and impactful introduction to the scourge of ageism I’ve ever heard. Equally important is the way in which her presentation is a convincing call to action to defeat ageism wherever we encounter it.
Defeating ageism won’t be done quickly, and we need stamina, courage, and direction to keep us in the fight. Speaking for myself, as I continue my own community education efforts to change negative perceptions about aging, I am buoyed at the opportunity to reach into my toolbox (where I also keep Ashton’s book and website url) and take out this additional –– and powerful –– resource to share with others.
Will you watch this amazing talk and then use it, too?
