There is a wicked inclination in mast people to suppose that an old ‘man decays in his intellect. If a young or middle aged man, when leaving a company does not recollect where he laid his hat, it is nothing; but if the same inattention is discovered in an old man, people will shrug their shoulders and say, “His memory is going”. Samuel Johnson.

The main thrust of this paper is to explode some myths which surround the old age and question the wisdom of our society that allocates considerable resources and talents to prolong human life but fails to provide meaningful social roles for older people who are usually treated as “surplus population”.

‘The emergence of old age as a social problem has its roots in modem society’s technological and social innovations. Dr. Butler writing for his famous book entitled Aging and Mental Health (1973) thinks that we covertly suffer from a national prejudice called ageism. Ageism can be defined as a systematic stereo typing of and discrimination against people because they are old, just as racism and sexism accomplish this in relation to skin, colour and gender. We tend to categorize old People as senile, rigid in thought and manner, garrulous, and old fashioned in morality and skills.

The origin of these. prejudices can be traced to our productivity minded society that had been mystified by the medical model. The following myths have been generated by unaware people ‘operating at a low level of consciousness.

  1. Aging starts at 65.
  2. All old people are “senile”,
  3. Tranquil grandpa with his goodies enjoying the fruits of his labor.
  4. All old people are unproductive,
  5. All old people resist change.
  6. Elderly people have more psychiatric disorders than the young people with similar genesis and structure,

It is a known fact that elderly people have a desire to leave a legacy. They develop a desire to share with the young their experience and accumulated knowledge. They do develop attachment to familiar objects. They develop a sense of here and now a sense of immediacy, This sense of presentness, if properly used can produce emotional and sensory

awareness and emotional enjoyment,

Elderly people reach an age where they can experience and reflect on the whole life cycle, ‘They do start showing more interest in philosophy, religion and poetry. For example, it is a common practice in Japan for elderly people to write poetry and read the ‘same to each other over a cup of tea.

Retirement is particularly compulsory and abrupt, at an arbitrarily age of 65 is a cruel practice directed towards elderly people. Symbolically, the retirant’s farewell party can be compared to a funeral because it has boundary maintenance function. Retirement is a social rejection which is publicly sanctioned. It is a banishment of one individual by a collectivity, a sort of excommunication.

Retirant’s are left with no choice to use a few ego defenses so as to deny the threat, pain, and shame evoked by social rejection. Personal reasons of health are given as ‘a desire for seeking early retirement. Longitudinal studies of retirant’s have established that it is not unusual for older workers before retirement to develop physical and psychological symptoms that subside or disappear after retirement. It appears as though the psyche of the retirant’s also comes to their help.

So as to reduce the pain of the social stress, some older people try to believe and act as middle age because old age is devalued in our changing, egocentric, youth or rented society. Holding a job and staying active in it provides an objective “validation” for older people that they can still claim middle aged status.

Dr. Zena Smith Balu, sociologist at the National Opinion Research Centre, University of Chicago thinks that “Role Exit’ which all older people in our society are made to experience is another Reflection of the narcissism that is rampant in our culture. Writing for her thought provoking book entitled Old Age in a Changing Society, she comments.

Role exist has three kinds of ‘specifiable and verifiable effects on individuals. It produces changes in an individual’s associational life, his self concept, and his mood. The duration and intensity of these effects are conditioned by the nature and extent of other role resources at his disposal, Restitution is attempted by many. The form of restitution determines ‘whether the enduring effects of role exist will being the direction of ‘growth or of impoverishment and atrophy of the individual as a social being.

Restitution often fails with the powerless older people because of the ameliorable cultural devaluation and neglect.

Multiple losses such as death of marital partner, older friends, colleagues, relatives, loss of status and prestige, loss of buying power due to fixed in ‘comes etc. compound the restitution problem. Emotionally, a rapid succession of losses can leave individuals with accumulated layers of unresolved grief along with fatigue and a sense of emptiness. ‘The North American social and economic system, conspires to regidify modern man’s status and function in life, It has successfully mystified many of us through educational’ process that does nothing but develops the ‘left side Of the brain’. The following suggestions are listed in the hope that some decision makers might find them useful:

  1. We should stop using all kinds of euphemisms for old people, They are those of us who have simply chosen to live longer.
  2. ‘Long living’ people should not be banished by the collectivity. They should be allowed to do what they are capable of doing fill the end.
  3. A radical reshuffling of resources is needed throughout the Course of the life cycle, Existing financial supports should| be reallocated as required. For example, senior university can be established for the elderly, In Nova Scotia, it could be called SUNS, Senior University of Nova Scotia,
  4. Retirement should lead to the creative use of one’s talent. Volunteer work dealing to the tedious tasks of stamp licking and envelope filling produces boredom and worthlessness.
  5. Poverty in old age is extreme in Canada. Poverty which erodes spirit is immoral, especially in a Christian country that boasts of developed resources and affluence, A compulsory income plan, so that those who toiled to make this country great can share its fruits should be instituted. Built in escalator clauses for cost of living should exist in such formulations.

To sum up, it can be said that simply extending human life for more and more years is inhuman unless the quality of later life can be improved, A new kind of ethics, awareness, nonlinear conscious: ness, and will to fight rather than leading ‘lives of quiet desperation’ is urgently needed.

Article extracted from this publication >> February 7, 1986