Even in the best of times, our societies (whether in the US or Europe, probably elsewhere too) tend to discard people of a certain age. Unemployment rates for those over 50 are ridiculously high and chances of finding work become increasingly remote. For whatever reason experience peaks at a young age and then suddenly becomes a problem. Fortunately there are people like Rita Levi Montalcini who is turning 100 and embracing her experience, using it as a strength. She won a Nobel prize when she was 77 years old and still keeps going. What a great story...
"At 100, I have a mind that is superior — thanks to experience — than when I was 20," she told the party, complete with a large cake for her.
The Turin-born Levi Montalcini recounted how the anti-Jewish laws of the 1930s under Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime forced her to quit university and do research in an improvised laboratory in her bedroom at home.
"Above all, don't fear difficult moments," she said. "The best comes from them."
