Theme Thursday - Over the Hill

I know it was meant well, and maybe even meant to be humorous, but I can't find any humor in this week's theme. The standard interpretation of the phrase "over the hill" is - past one's prime, out of the loop, no longer sought after, no longer "useful". Those of us who are "over the hill" don't see ourselves this way, but our youth-obsessed society does, and this has serious consequences.

I'm 56 years old. As you can see from the photo to the left (my favorite self-portrait), I have a generous amount of gray in my hair. I have 30 years of experience in retail sales, 14 of those years in supervisory/managerial positions. But I've been unemployed for 22 months, and now my unemployment benefits have been exhausted, both the initial benefits and all the available state and federal emergency extensions, and the only further help I'm eligible for is food stamps. I'm up the creek without a paddle (to use another cliché), and why? Because my age and my experience are considered a hindrance rather than an asset.

I realize I probably can't prove that, but I can point out the obvious - that in retail (my chosen field) looks are as important as personality, and even though I can get customers to relax and laugh with me, the marketing experts say that customers are younger and don't relate to gray hair. I can point to several jobs I applied for that went to young people in their twenties, just out of school, who didn't have half the qualifications for those jobs that I had. But those people were younger, and the store owners could pay them less and offer less in the way of benefits than what my experience would earn.

And I haven't been looking just in retail; I've pretty much been trolling my skill set and seeing where else I can get a job - a batch photo editor job, shipping departments (after all, I was the "shipping czar" at the Dansk Factory Outlet here for 11 years), call centers... Hell, I've even applied for dishwasher and fast-food counter jobs. With no luck.

The problem is that our society no longer respects age and experience. Once you pass 50 you're less useful, even less visible, in a society obsessed with youth and drive and speed. We who are older are backwaters in the prevailing youth culture. And to a prospective employer we not only don't fit the image he/she is trying to project, but we're automatically assumed to require more money and benefits than they can get away with offering to younger, more gullible employees. There are plenty of kids and twenty-somethings looking for a job (in RI our unemployment rate is 12.7%), and they're cheaper to maintain than us "over the hill" types.

So here I am, at the end of my resources, trying to see if I can eke anything out of any of my skills, praying that maybe my attempts at exposure for my photography will draw some income soon, and hoping that comes before I lose my internet access because I can no longer pay the bill. And all because the society to which I've been an active contributor for the last 50-some years doesn't respect, in fact doesn't even recognize the experience and skills I've accumulated in my life, all because I've become "over the hill". So no, I'm not very happy with this week's theme!

Meanwhile, I still have that internet access, and I'll take advantage of it as long as I have it. Which means I haven't forgotten the usual feature of adding pertinent videos to my Theme Thursday post. I figured this week I'd feature older artists who still make great music.

Old and in the Way was a bluegrass group in the '70s made up of members of various California rock groups of the time. The band featured Jerry Garcia (banjo & vocals), David Grisman (mandolin & vocals), Peter Rowan (guitar & vocals), Vassar Clements (fiddle), and John Kahn (bass). They reunited in 2002, with Herb Petersen replacing the late Jerry Garcia and Bryn Bright replacing the late John Kahn. The album the reunion group released in 2002 was called Old and in the Gray. This song is from that album - "Land of the Navajo" with Peter Rowan's stunning Navajo-style singing in the middle.

Of course, when we think of the "elder statesmen" in the field of music, the first name on the list is Pete Seeger, 90 years old and still going strong. Here he is in 1993 at a sprightly 74, singing with Arlo Guthrie (who's definitely into "over the hill" status himself) and leading the crowd in singing "If I Had a Hammer".

Last but not least comes Mama Africa, the late, great Miriam Makeba. We lost her last November, but she was singing literally right up to the end of her 72 years - she died of a heart attack suffered while performing in Italy. Here she is on her triumphant return to South Africa with Paul Simon's Graceland tour, singing "Jinkel E Maweni". Enjoy!

Photo & text © 2009 by A. Roy Hilbinger