Seriously? Still?

On the big TV screen in the gym where I work out, I see an ad. It features a stooped over old lady pushing a mail cart through the hallways of an office. She squints, trying to make out the address on a package. She totters, loses her balance, leans heavily on a cane. In the next scene there’s a flabby old guy dressed in a firefighter uniform holding a hose. Or trying to. He can’t control it. It whips him around. He falls.

Now comes the voice-over. We learn that these helpless, doddering old people have to work—and look at how poorly they do it!– because they didn’t save for their retirement. That message—it is a good idea to plan ahead and put something by for the future—is a good one. But the presentation is pure, unadulterated ageism.

And I am sick of it.

No, not sick: Angry. Infuriated.

At the moment I am awaiting a visit from the construction manager of a reno project we just finished at our house. He didn’t just “manage” the four-month project, he demoed walls, moved furniture, installed cabinets, hefted new windows, got down on his hands and knees and investigated crawl spaces. He is 67.

In fact, about a quarter of men and women over 65 are in the workforce. Presumably, they are performing the duties of their jobs without falling over.

Every Wednesday I go to Food for Lane County’s Dining Room where I join a group of a dozen volunteers. Some of us wait tables and carry trays and serve coffee, walking a mile or two during our shift. Others heft big dessert trays, bus tables, scrub pots and pans. These men and women are in their 60s and 70s. We have several octogenarian volunteers, and there’s one 92-year-old woman who works regularly in the kitchen. These folks bring energy and vitality to this work. They are healthy and active.

In fact, 80 percent of people over 65 report that their health is ”fine” or better.

So why are all these folks and the millions of others like them—and do I need to invoke the name RUTH BADER GINSBURG?—considered exceptions to the rule? Why does the rule still stand? Why is the rule that older people are helpless, hapless, frail, sickly, useless, tired and tiresome, boring—and in the way?

Seriously, FUCK THAT SHIT.