Frequently we hear about people being discriminated against because of various factors such as race, gender, age, or religion. Have you ever heard of anyone being discriminated against because they appear to be younger than they are? That has happened to me and to some members of my family. It is a family trait that we are "late bloomers" and during our early years appear much younger than we really are. Don't get me wrong. Looking young for your age can often be beneficial. And even when it's not, the result can be amusing. But it can also be annoying. When I was 16 I could get into the movies as an 11 year old. I was carded in a bar when I was 35 years old. On this page, I will list some incidents of discrimination that happened to me or members of my family because we didn't look our age. You can be the judge if the incident is funny or annoying.
When I was a student at Iowa State, I was walking down the sidewalk in Ames, Iowa between classes, when I was pulled over by the police. They were wondering why I wasn't in school. Even with my Iowa State ID card it was hard to convince them that I wasn't a public school student. I was only 17 at the time, so this wasn't too bad an incident.
During my days in the Army, I went to Philadelphia one weekend to get together with a buddy from my home town who was in the Navy and stationed there. We decided to go into a bar and have a beer. I was 21 at the time and he was only 20. I had a valid ID card and he had a false ID card. The bartender served him but refused to serve me because he said that my ID must be false because I couldn't be 21.
When I lived in Arlington, Virginia, was 26 years old and married, a college graduate, an Army veteran, and employed, my uncle who was visiting and I went to the office of a United States Senator from Iowa. Senator Jack Miller lived two houses from my home in Sioux City, Iowa and I had known him for many years. My uncle wanted to look into the possibility of his 15 year old son becoming a page on capital hill. Senator Miller was out of town and his administrative assistant talked with us. Whenever I spoke, this administrative assistant all but ignored me. He directed all of his comments to my uncle and acted as if I wasn't there except for the moment where he thought I was my uncle's 15 year old son. Even then, he pointed at me and said, "Is this the boy?" This was probably the most annoying incident I personally experienced.
I was in O'Hare International Airport in Chicago with my father and my younger son, who was about one year old at the time. My wife was in the restroom with my older son. My dad and I decided to have a beer, but I was carded. My dad thought that was funny because I was 30 years old and carrying my infant son. I told him it happens all the time. Actually the older I got the more I enjoyed being carded. It never really annoyed me because I knew they were just doing their job.
When my son first got his driver's license, he was hassled by police who thought he didn't look old enough to have a driver's license.
When my older son was a sophomore in college, he was an assistant coach for my younger son's high school wrestling team. My older son was 19 years old and had spent part of two seasons with his college wrestling team and later won the intramural wrestling championship for his weight. The head coach and the other assistant coach were at the league finals along with my son. The other assistant coach was a year younger than my older son, but looked older. At the league championship tournament, all three coaches were helping, which they had done all year. Tournament officials, who I assume were under the false impression that my older son was a high school student, persisted in trying to remove him from the floor. They finally changed rules in mid stream and said that only two coaches could be on the floor at one time. So the other coach went into the stands, infuriating the tournament officials. This entire hassle could have been avoided had the tournament officials asked a couple of questions instead of arrogantly making assumptions.
When my daughter was 14 years old, she took an airplane trip by herself. Airlines require paperwork for all passengers under age 12 who are not accompanied by an adult. She was repeatedly asked about her paperwork, and had to explain each time that she didn't need paperwork because she was 14 years old.
These are just a few examples of the discrimination that family members and I experienced during our early years because of our youthful appearance. It happened many times, most too insignificant to remember but still annoying at the time. As I reflect on these examples, I can see that taken individually none of them are earth shattering. In fact most of them are funny, except for the snub by the senator's assistant and the hassling by wrestling tournament officials, which are inexcusable in and of themselves. I guess my point is that when you go through your youth being discriminated against because you look too young, it gets pretty old. I realize that compared to other forms of discrimination, it really isn't too serious a problem. But I want people to be aware that this does happen so they can be more sensitive.
Click here to see an example of this. This picture was taken when I was 24 years old, had spent two years in the army, 4-1/2 years in college receiving my bachelor's degree, and was looking for a job. I believe that I look like a high school student in this picture.
