Agreer -Sorry to Disagree.
I feel sorry for you, but you’re the exception, not the rule.
“Older girls are gems and older guys, for the most part, are not even halfway worthy of them.”
While age in girls doesn’t affect them so much mentally -did you ever consider why the guy is older and not married? I’ll tell you why -because s/o who isn’t the biggest Macher or come from a rich or Yichus family -no one Redds them anything. So they get older. Most are still very worthy human beings. I know because I was an older guy and I settled and am now divorced. I’ll tell you something else that a good percent of the older guys have good Middos, while I see many of the guys who are prime market material (as explained above) are lacking in Middos. I understand were your perception comes from, but it is wrong!
“I was desperate, and I settled big time. I was doing something meaningful with my life; he was directionless. Yet he had pants, and that was enough for my parents.”
I will not take your opinion about your parents at face value, there are always two sides to any story -I’d like to hear theirs’.
Also, why blame your parents? Any girl post high school looking to get married, esp. at 26, should know how to figure out what the guy is all about during the dates. This is the reason we even have a dating process.