We’ve lost something in recent generations.

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An essential role that helped human societies survive formillennia has quietly disappeared.

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The role of elders.

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Outside of many Indigenous cultures, older people in Western society have been pushed to the margins.

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They are often tucked away in assisted living facilities and nursing homes.

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Taking their wisdom and lived experience with them.

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Entire libraries of knowledge, locked behind closed doors.

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I spoke with a woman last week on my show who is helping give voice to elderhood in modern society.

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That conversation stirred something in me.

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Maybe because I’m getting closer to that “magic number” where society starts calling you a senior.

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I still have many useful, creative, meaningful years ahead of me.

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I have no intention of retiring from life.

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Yet when I honestly imagined looking for a job today, I had a sobering realization.

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Almost no one would hire me at my age.

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Not because I lack experience.

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Not because I lack skill.

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But because of a number.

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My age.

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Is that not ridiculous?

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What an extraordinary waste of talent.

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And I’m not just talking about myself.

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How many people are walking around right now with decades of insight, problem-solving ability, and emotional maturity, yet will never be invited into the room?

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There is, however, a glimmer of hope.

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The global population is aging.

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The youth of yesterday are becoming the elders of today and tomorrow.

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Baby Boomers once reshaped the world in the 60s and 70s.

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Perhaps they will be called to do it again.

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Because maturity, real maturity, is something we desperately need right now.

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Too many of our leaders are acting like spoiled children in adult bodies.

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That is what happens when a society no longer listens to its elders.

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When we find a way to restore honor to aging, when gray hair(or no hair) is seen as a badge of experience rather than decline, we may finally chart a wiser course forward.

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Our elders do not belong to the past.

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They are guides to our future.

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It is time we listened.

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And honor them with the respect they deserve.

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Can you name the elders who helped shape your own path?

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~ Sam Liebowitz, The Conscious Consultant

Host of The Conscious Consultant Hour