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I think that most of the time when we find ourselves wedged into a narrow little box, it's because we put ourselves there. I am proud to say that I've managed to overcome the ageism that I was raised with.
My mother's generation (in the 60s) tried to tell me that older people were hopelessly square and no longer relevant, but I saw some things for myself that made me think again. One thing that made a huge impression on me when I was much younger was once when I witnessed a flock of over-70 folks dancing to Michael Jackson at a country club luau. I hated Michael Jackson, and never would have considered even listening to his stuff, much less dancing. I realized that they were far more open-minded than me - what an eye opener! These people were Bing Crosby fans, yet they were willing to loosen up and have a good time regardless of how strange and new the music was for them. I had already been open to friendships with adults, but after that I realized I needed to open my attitude even further and let "elderly" people in as well.
Currently, one of my very best friends is 64 or so, and I have other friends who are 21 or 22. Over the years I've had many good friendships with people significantly older than myself - now that I'm old enough to be thought of as such, I do my best to keep an open mind about younger people and extend the same openness to them that my older friends did to me. When I was younger, I hated the way people talked down to me and never seemed to take me seriously or believe I could possibly be thinking anything worthwhile. So now I take the time to listen and respect those younger than myself.
I still can't deal with those stupid baggy pants though.
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