Social Arrogance Observed

It seems to me in my current social surroundings (very white, very middle to mid-upper class) that the assumed age at which one is at the "top" of the social food-chain is somewhere in the forties. A forty-something year-old, I have seen, controls not only the youth, but also the elderly. To the forty-somethings, who obviously know all there is to know, both children and the elderly (perhaps even more so the elderly) are cute trinkets designed for their amusement. "Oh how cute," they say, not only about the toddler (who is at least dignified by the occasional scold, revealing the ability to challenge the forty-something's apparent universal power), but also about the eighty year-olds at a nursing home. "They just love when I play music for them. I don't even have to play well. They just love it!" I woman I recently met generally said these things, and she was so sincere and, in her way, so kind-hearted, but I could not stomach the image her words painted of silly, nearly dim-witted old people, swaying happily to badly sung 30's tunes. They're not dogs, damnit! I mean, come on. What happened to assuming that that eighty year-old person sitting next to you knows significantly more about life, and has much to teach you? When did they become floppy, empty-headed hand puppets?