Ageism

Generally when people refer to ageism - or prejudices against a certain age group - they are referring to the elderly. Especially in American culture, the elderly are not revered as they should be as beacons of wisdom, but rather as drains on society. But the last few days I've been thinking about ageism against the young. Young in this sense does not necessarily have to mean child, because the ageism I've been experiencing in the professional world has to do with me being in my mid-twenties.

Perhaps it is because I look younger then I am (which I'm told that someday will be a benefit, but right how it just feels like a burden) or the assumptions that accompany how I look (that I am uneducated, neieve, or lack life experience) but I've received just as many unnecessary comments from fellow clergy as I have from my congregation. The only place where i seemed to be appreciated for me, age and all, is with college students. I even had one of them tell me yesterday that he definitely got the "pastor vibe" from me. And the parents of college students are gracious as well, one telling me to make sure that I take care of myself and do not become discouraged. While clergy have the one of the highest. Burn out rates nationally, he could see that I am called to this profession to be a blessing.

But clergy, well that's another story. In the complex age where the denomination (along with others) is crying out for young clergy, I am constantly met with slight of the hand comments about my age, especially by second career pastors who don't know me. Alas, this does not come with the territory friends in other professions. But how to even begin to address this issue with congregations with so much resistance from fellow professionals?


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