I’ve had quite a fun time this week dealing with egos and the proverbial “listen to your elders” advice. Dear Lord, it’s only Tuesday! Well, frankly, I’m done listening, at least for this week and the next.

I think somewhere between getting my law license and the oh, say, 18 years of schooling, that I’ve gotten a sense that what comes out of my mouth—at  least in a professional setting—has some semblance of intellect and logic. I mean the State of Illinois did trust me enough to give me a law license! People should let me plead my case and the supporting evidence and then make their decision. Stop presupposing that what I say is faulty! EEESSSHHH!

The reality of my life is that people either really don’t listen to me, they just tune me out or they just flat out don’t believe that I have anything relevant to say. This proves to be quite a challenge in my working life. For example, I distinctly remember being in court before a judge who not only didn’t believe that I was an attorney but further that there was no way that I could be representing a corporation. I actually had to produce my bar license to this old Confucian-like man in robes. Once I had proven to him that I had a right to be standing in front of his bench, he certainly tried to teach me some sort of lesson; I still don’t know what that was, but he sure did try to make me feel small. Well, not only was I two steps ahead of him with all the appropriate filings and court papers in hand, but I had known relevant case law that he apparently didn’t bother to keep up on. He was mildly impressed, I could tell, though he tried to hide it.  I’ll never forget when he chuckled in a sort of “in your face” way and said: “see you next time, Counselor.” Yep, Judge, next time. I should have just told him: “TTYL.” That would have thrown him for a loop. The generational gap would have been too painfully obvious there.

Yesterday I had a lot of fun with some elders. In fact, I actually yelled at someone that he was not being professional and that the invectives spewing from his lips were all below the belt. First, it was abundantly clear that this old-fashioned man of the law could not stand talking to someone who’s mother was born almost a decade after he received his law degree. Second, he certainly couldn’t stand being challenged and being told that he was wrong. In fact, he was so out of line—not only with his stupidity but with his male chauvinistic attitude to a young female attorney that he resulted to insults. I did manage to nicely back him into a corner and make him admit that his case had “holes.” I patted myself on the back over that one—after he hung up on me!

It doesn’t stop there. This morning one of my “elders” handed me an article that detailed the idea that in conflicts, apparently “older is wiser.” Clearly, he was sending me a message. The New York Times had the audacity to irritate me with this garbage today. As the Kesha goes: “Blah Blah Blah.” The crux of the article is that “the single best demonstration of a long-held view is that wisdom increases with age.” I’m sure there’s some truth to that but it’s not entirely the case all of the time.

This is precisely why we have specialists in many different areas. If we only trusted in the advice of elders, why would we need doctors, accountants, stock traders, therapists and the like? We’d only have to look  to someone older for advice on any issue. It’s simply not true that older is wiser all of the time.

Disproving the “older is wiser” adage has quite poignantly become one of the goals of my life—intentionally or not. I walk through life trying to convince people that I know what I am talking about and that despite my age, there is some wisdom backing up my words. Welcome to my life.