An indignant reader, “Sareg,” addressed our blog which featured the ageist comment “you do not have enough runway,” by writing:

“I love it.  They keep coming up with new ways to say you are too old. What is the definition of too old?  When I was 14, 20 was old.  When I was in my 20’s, 30’s were old — and so on.

Age is just a number.  Get over that number and look at what a person brings to the job and what you need.  If the person is 55 they still have 20 or more years to give you. We don’t all become feeble, senile or immobile when we reach 50.

I am so tired of reading and hearing about “those old people.”  What about us?  We make up the largest demographic anywhere so why are we sitting back and taking this?  I have presented on this topic, written on this topic and conducted workshops on this topic  — why? We need to ensure that our workplace is all-inclusive and we respect each other for who we are and what we bring to the table. This has nothing to do with age.

You as an employer do not have to hire the older worker, but then you will have very few employees.”