Once upon a time, in a land called Silicon（[化学] 硅） Valley, there lived a fantastic young techie called Benjamin. He skilled open many doors and he was proud to be part of the advancements（进步） that were changing the world. Years passed and Benjamin started noticing that of late, his ideas were dismissed（解散） more often. His performance appraisals（评价） became satisfactory（令人满意的） and he was not being put forward for any new and exciting projects. The invitations for after work drinks were also coming in less frequently. And then one day, he was made redundant（多余的） and his job given（做） to a much younger person.
But he was quite confident he was gonna land a new job quickly. After all, his experience and reputation（名誉） were bound to deliver a fantastic new role. So he applied for one such role and got rejected. He applied for another, another rejection（拒绝）. Then another, then another, then another. You get the picture?
Benjamin realized that it was his age that became a barrier（(阻碍通道的)障碍物）. In this land of relentless（无情的） pursuit（ 追赶） of newer ideas, younger simply meant smarter, more desirable（值得要的）, more profitable（有利可图的）, better. It's no secret that the median age at tech giants such as Facebook and Google is under 30, and the jobs in the valley are geared（适合） towards youth. They call them digital natives with a great culture fit. This story is not unique（唯一的） if you're a 55. It applies to us here in Australia and it's definitely not endemic to the tech industry.
Not so long ago, I woke up in Sydney one morning to realize, all of a sudden, I was old. My inbox was flooded with emails from Medicare, senior（年少的） citizens（公民） card, funeral（葬礼） services, and other businesses targeting（把…作为目标） me with offers and warning me about senior（年少的） citizens（公民） scams. In social settings, I notice younger people frequently look past me. Sometimes even right through me, so much so that I started believing I was invisible（看不见的）. And people meeting me for the first time will often ask me whether I'm now retired. Although I do get a lot of those, you look so good for your age, which really flatters（ 恭维） and infuriates me at the same time.
But it's looking good for my age was not very helpful when I decided to do a little bit of research about applying for a job at my age. I can report that applying for 62 jobs, jobs I'm very well qualified for, on different platforms from June to November last year, delivered exactly zero job interviews. It delivered 20 very impersonal（ 不受个人感情影响的） automated（使自动化） emails and 42 deafening（使聋） silences from recruiters. I believe that's called ghosting, yeah? My friends and colleagues of similar vintage shared that in their experience, recruiters will either ghost them or offer platitudes（陈词滥调） such as, or you are overqualified for the role, translation. You're too old and likely too expensive.
The others will talk about tough（坚韧的） job market and then some recruiters will suggest that removing your experience from the 90s may be helpful. Let me share some stats with you. Recent research from Australian Human Resources Institute（研究所） found（找到） that in 2023, only one quarter of employers would consider people over 60 in their recruitment（ 招收） process. One in six would not even give them a look in. And this while two thirds of HR professionals（专业人员） said they were finding（找到） it difficult to hire experienced staff. Yet another report from 2021 found that three quarters of Australians aged over 50 need and want to keep working indefinitely（不确定地）.
Firstly, for financial reasons and secondly, for lack of social connection. And in the world of investments（投资）, and let's face it, these people are listened to. After all, it's money. The Moody（ 喜怒无常的）'s report from 2022 suggests that aging population, and we are referred to as the Silver Horde（一大群） or the Great Tsunami（海啸）, will dampen（使潮湿） global economic growth for two decades to come. So we are seen as the burden（担子） that the young must carry. No wonder ageism is alive and well.
It is also prevalent（普遍的）, ubiquitous（普遍存在的） and insidious, according（使一致） to the World Health Global（全世界的） Organization report from 21. Now, what saddens（ 使悲伤） me is that our experience and knowledge is dismissed（解散） as outdated（ 过时的） or completely discarded. But what saddens me even more is the emotional（感情的） and mental turmoil（骚动） that age discrimination（歧视） creates. You see, as humans, we are wired to seek（寻找） connection, to seek acceptance（接受）, to seek（寻找） belonging. And when we are rejected, we experience emotions of humiliation（丢脸） and shame（ 遗憾的事）. These emotions, they register（登记） in our brains as physical pain.
The emotions are so corrosive（腐蚀的） that they trigger（引发） a stress response in our body, which leads to elevated cortisol levels, that leads to inflammation（[病理] 炎症）. And inflammation sustained（支撑） over time leads to wide range of ailments, such as diabetes or cardiovascular ailments. And sometimes things can get even more serious. You don't need more evidence from me to make a connection between the effect of ageist attitudes on our mental and physical health. And consequent（随之发生的） burden（担子）, this place is on healthcare（ 卫生保健） and social services. And considering that roughly（粗糙地） 30% of Australian people is over 50, there are good reasons to challenge（向…挑战） age related issues, especially in the workplace（工作场所）.
And yet we don't. Ageism is hidden from open scrutiny（ 详细审查）. And even in this age of increased focus on diversity（差异） and inclusion（包含）, somehow（由于某种原因） it falls through the cracks（裂缝）. Like let's not talk about, it's a bit of a taboo（(宗教)禁忌、避讳）, let's just not touch that. No one is truly（真实地） talking about it and seldom（ 很少） would anyone admit that they are ageist. But we do joke about it, as if humor somehow makes it acceptable（可接受的）.
From wisecracking birthday cards to online funny memes, the message is very clear. Being old is not desirable. I give you another example. The mega fashion and cosmetic house, Christian Dior, made model Cara de Levin face of the line of their anti（反对者 a反对的）-wrinkle creams. She's 32, makes sense, right? So why did we lose respect for the wisdom（ 智慧） of our elders?
When we know short of early death, everybody will age. My observation（观察） after 60 years in the world of obsessed with youth is that all the people confront（使面临） us with the inevitable（必然的） changes that aging delivers to the appearance of our bodies and to our mental agility. You see, we don't want to hire the reminder（ 提醒物） of this inevitable（必然的） fate（命运）. We want to keep them out of sight and out of mind. But in this act of exclusion（排除）, we do ourselves a great disservice. We miss out on the richness（富饶） of the combined experience where we could do so much more together.
Indigenous（本土的） cultures do inclusion（包含） of ages very well. For example, our Australian indigenous folk, our elders, they are custodians（管理人） of ancestral（ 祖先的） knowledge. They pass down the stories and songs that carried a dreaming from generation to generation. There are such important lessons we can learn from them about interconnectedness of all things. An old adage comes to mind about how it takes a village to raise a child, meaning that the well（井）-being（存在） on any one person is always and inextricably（分不开地） linked to the well（井）-being（存在） of the whole, of the family, a clan（宗族）, a community, a society. To me, this is a reminder that every age has a role to play.
And when we discriminate（歧视） based on age, we risk fragmenting（使成碎片） the very（ 恰好的） village needed to sustain（支撑） our world. So what are we to do? First step, the best step, is start dismantling（拆除） your own prejudices（偏见） about aging. Look beyond（在…的那边） the stereotypes（ 固定形式） and challenge（向…挑战） your assumptions. And most importantly, shine the light on it, because it's hidden, it thrives（兴旺） in the shadows（ [C] 影子）. For example, if you pay attention to the language used in a company's job ad, you might see some words typically associated（交往） with youth, such as fresh perspective（透视画法） or new ideas.
Point it out and have that conversation. And if you are a leader, take a closer look at the decisions you make about hiring, about promotions（提升）, development and exciting projects. These decisions are revealing（显示）. And start talking about ageism, because when we start talking about anything, it becomes visible（可见的）, and soon action follows. Don't hold back（在后）. For things to change, we must really lead the change that we want to see in our companies, with our friends and our families.
Remember Benjamin from the beginning of this talk? Well, he went out and started mentoring（[希神]门特(良师益友)） younger people and sharing his experience freely（自由地） and generously. And something remarkable（异常的） happened. Words spread about the silver-haired techie with great ideas, and Silicon Valley gods started seeking him out again. He became visible. I imagine he smiled and said to himself, "They finally get it. It takes a village."
Truth is, we all need a village where every age can thrive, and where the number on your birth certificate（证书） is irrelevant（不相干的）. Because we are all aging and denying（否定） it won't make it disappear. We can choose to embrace（拥抱） it and build a village where age is celebrated, where wrinkles are just a beautiful testament（遗嘱） of a life well-lived, and where ageism becomes a relic（遗物） of the past. So today, I know it's a long road ahead. "I'll leave you with immortal（不朽的） words of Lao Tzu," he said. "The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. It is my hope that this talk will be a reminder that we can rebuild（重建） the village together. We just need to take the first step."
Thank you.