I’m a Baby Boomer, and proud of it, mostly. During the heyday of the hippies, we used to say “Don’t trust anyone over 30.” Now, it’s don’t hire anyone over 30. Employers would rather hire two young people at 25 and pay the two of them 40% of what their older counterpart should earn.

There is no substitute for experience, and the superficial proficiency in technical skills is no match for the wisdom that comes with age and its hard-fought lessons.

I was blessed to be hired by a very diverse law firm. I’m a mentor for a lot of the younger folks here, and they appreciate my insights. The only problem is that I’m earning substantially less than I should be earning — -but that’s a Firm-wide problem.

When we value each person for his or her skills and attitudes, then we will have a better working environment. I suspect that we’ll have to do away with most of our conventional advertising, whose mantras are “Youth Must be Served,” “Let’s enjoy beer and trucks!,” and “Have you played with your new smartphone yet?” Value age in all aspects and learn valuable life-lessons.