Melissa — thank you for writing this piece and presenting in such a reasonable, balanced way, the great misfortune of this ageism issue. To this day, I cannot understand why — as soon as I hit 40 years of age — suddenly my excellent resume and many years of experience, and the wisdom that comes with it — no longer carried any weight. I was simply unable to land any job that paid any decent wage. There are serious financial repercussions, as you so well presented, and this whole mindset is simply destructive and self-defeating. Again, thank you for writing and posting this.