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•
0/d peoplt are grumpy, crotchety,
dodtkring, dtcrepit, dtprused. dtpress–
ing,
oYU
tite
ltil~
al/
~lttd
"1'·
and
unabfe or unwiffing to ftarn
new
skilfs..
They've
setn
bener days. They're stt in
thtlr ways. Thty're stxfesJ, tired. Irregu–
lar, partllll)ld. and neurotic. And. of
cour.se,
tloey
're
aff
afike.
- Elderly stereotype,
circo
!he Pepsi
Gen~ration
I
r
you lhink you're living in !he la.nd
of !he free and the · home of tbe
· unbiased, take a glance at !he bill·
boards or' stay by !he
TV
set during !he
commen:ial$.
"Milk
has somelhing for.every body,"
the commercial- says, but tbe
"~dy"
is
always young.
~aJe
and Apolloruan, or
young. female and voluptuous - above
. all
young.
Even tbe most sedate sedan
must be sold by a slithering, sensuoús
seducuess. The boary bead, however,
.hawks nothing but bair color, and the
aged body se
lis
nothing but laxatives.
Evu since men first realized tbat tbcy
weren't getting any younger, they've
se•rched for ·a key, a formula, a magic
potion or tbe "elixir of life" tbat would
ptolong youtb. Today, although some–
what more sophistic.ted, we display the
same dream of immortality. We freeu
our dead in hopes science
wiiJ
someday
be able 10 revive lhem, or we ponder
near-speed-of-ligbt space: ships whose
occupants wUI age only slightly
as
tbey
probe tbe universe for tbousands of
earth
years.
Meanwhile
l)ack
on eanb old people
pite up i.n our society, comprising an
ever-larger pcrcentage of the population
and revealing us to be no more !han
a
societal Ponce de Leon, searching des–
pcrately for a F:ountain of Youth, but
6nding nothing more than Florida, now
a retirement center.
Cerontophobia
Gerontophobia, the fear of aging,
is
one of our most common diseases. Ge–
rontophobia strikes young. life-loving
people, but it is essentially a disease of
the
mind.
Among the ftrst symptoms
is
the fonnation of a mental steieotypc
such as tbe one at tbe beginning of
this
article.
Bccause of our culiural aversion to
aging. we've neglected and over-bur–
dened tbe elderly, so íf sorne old pcople
are "doddering. depressed, tired or neu–
rotic,"
as
tbe stereotypc goes, it oould be
because youth-land heaps more stresses
upon !he elderly than upon any other
group.
We're ..civil.iz.ed." so we don't aban·
don our old to die
as
sorne cultures do.
Nevertheleas, our elderly account for
more suicídes than any otber segment of
tbe population.
The
Losl
Geo~eratlon
.
The land of old age is
th~
land of loss.
..Loss."
more than any othc:r word, sums
up tbe
stresses
infticted on tbe elderly.
Loss ofbealtb and vitality.
Loss
ofa life–
loog mart¡age partner.
Loss
of job and
career.
Loss
o(
friends, social contacts,
and prestige.
And
loss
of.mon~y.
The land of otd ago
i.•
a poor tand.
Stepping across retirement's thresbold
oflen means a sudden
loss
of income,
wbile tbc retiree's "fixed" sources of in-
14
Tbe youtbful, upward-tbrusting
rocket
is
a vaiWlble asset, but after deli'(·
cring its payload to mt.ximum heigbt, it
suffers gradual, then total, depreciation.
' As
worthles$, excess bulk that wiU be
around just a shon while longer. tbe
pcaked-out rockct lacks any futuro, s-ve
to steadily decline tbrough tbe social at–
mospbcre.
Despite being a nation of
215
million
• rocket trajectories, tbe U.S.
has
almost
no role for tpe vehicle that.
has
aJready
delivered its P,Oyload. Thus tbe irony of
tbe World Health Organiution repon
lhat tbc elderly
are
at least . relatively
spcaking.
bellt:t
off
In poor countriet
than in rich ones·- a slap in ihe Western
oations' ,amuent face and a surprise, but
,_ ,_ only
beca
use
our higb evahution of our
c•ING
THI
fiAR Df AGING.
- ~;~~~~?:-~g::.a~;: ::~~.~¡~
by
Ron Honwell
come líe exposed to the ravages of in–
ftation. The eldedy comprise· ooly ten
pcn:ent of tbe population in tbe U.S.•
but tbey constitute
20%
of tbe poor.
Many life optioos evaporate with thc
loss of income. Recreation, entettain–
ment and travel become
100
expcnsivé.
Oood
food becomes too expcosive. Ade–
quate bousing
is
also prohibitivo.
As
tbe
younger and richer population shifts
away from the centraLc:ities, tbe elderly
are
left behind in ihe ..un-dpwn
crime¿
ridden arcas,
~use
that's alllhey c.n
afrord.
•
'
MoreThan Money
On tbose rare oocasions when our col·
lective gerontophobia musters the cour–
age to ponder solutions, it typicaUy
thinks along the lines of money. Since
many of tbe "losses" outlined above
are
6nancially related, money
is
certainly an
imponant 'consider:úion. But to focus
predominantly on it
is
to say tbat tbe
problems Qf tbe elderly are tbe concern
primarily of eoooomists, acooumaots
and financia! planners.
Such is oot the
case.
Age-linked losses
are imposed to a large extent by our
culture, not from natural eauses.
The foundational problem in our ap·
proacb to the elderi,Y is not monetary
but attitudinal. derivmg from pandemic
gerontophobía. The ftoancial .aspccts of
the problem simply illustrate that our
money will never be where our hearts
arenot.
··
Emotionally, we've isolated many of
the elderly and kept them sequestered
as
a huge, oearly invisible minority. For,
among olher reasoos, they have come to
represent ihat surest of prophecies:
"lt
is
appointed unto
all
men Qnce to die."
J'be Japanese
Exeeption
Not every culture r9bs its old of tbeir
dignity. There are societies where tbe
elderly aren't exposed 10such plunder of
neglect. Such instances usuaUy are not
just tbe result of wisely appropriated
monies, but
a
matter of a refresbingly
ditrerent approach 10ward aging and ihe
aged.
IJI Japan. the elderly enjoy broader
social and economic options, such as
staying on tbe job if they choose.
In-
'
deed, there has been very little decline
among tbe Japanese elderly in tbe work
foree over !he last
40
yeais. (During tbat
same
AO
years, ihe United States has
been gradually but systematically phas–
ing out many of !he jobs of anyone wbo
turns sixty.)
But tbe rul düferencc between lhé
Homc of !he Brave and tbe Land of tbe
Rising Sun is more philosophieal tban
statistical. Japan's traditioo of eon–
fronting tbe aging cycle in
a
respcctfql
manner surfaces everywbere, eveo
in
the
following
natíonallaw~
., .,;
"Tbc elders sball be loved and
re>
s~
as
those wbo have for many
years oontributed toward !he devel–
opmeot ofsocicty, aod a wholesome and
pcaceful life sball be 1\uaranteed them.
In
accordance witb ihett desire and abil–
itr, tbe elders shall be given opJX!nu–
mties to eogage in suitable ·work o• to
participate in social activities."
J apan, bowever, is ao exeeption•
among tbe richer nations. At tlie West–
em end of the "advanced" wotld, it's
impossible to muster sucb depth of feel- ·
i.ng and eommitment. The U.S. Social
Security system makes possible some
son ofretirement income for ihe elderly,
but out of the Social Security conccpt
has
emerged that magic and tragic age
of
65,
ihe disc.rd age, tbe date when
your birtb certiftcate automatically
places you on any pcrsonnel oflicer's
blacklist Even
if
you have jógged ftvc
miles tbat morning and tbe pcrsonnel
ollicer
drops
dead of
a
h..n auack
lhat
oight. it's your
ag_e
lhat counts.
The Circle of
Uf
e
Uke many other wtem cultures, tbe
Japanese
posscss
the abílity to see life as
a circle. They see each Ufe stage as part
of !he wbole, wilh its own panicular
rewards
and privileges. Those oearing
eompletion of the árcle find tbcy
stUI
have a role to play witb usefulness and
respect.
Our Western myopia pcrceives life
more like tbe patb of a rocket. lt ruches
a
certain
bigh poiot and then declines
uniU~.Jhal
momem of final, deathly im–
pact. First you're launcbed. Then you
deliver your payload. Then you're old.
Thenyou die.
n.e
Majority's
Mblority
In her monumental
book,
1'M Coming
of Age,
Simone de Beauvoir relates' the
widespread fól.k tale of a pcasant man
wbo makes bis elderly fatber eat out of
a
wooden trouP, apan from the rest of bis
family. One day the pcasaqt comes
across bis small son wbo's busily fitting
togetber some boards. "lt's for you
wben
you are old," explains tbe child.
The sto!Y illustrates an interesting
poinf that our cultural nearsightedness
onen fails to bring into focus. The
elderly sulfer discrimination similar
to
that which many minorities,have experi–
en"t:ed, but the elderly minority
is
uniqu~
in ihat aU who discriminate against
ft
sooner or later
wiiJ
tbemselves become
membets of it (or at least tbey
ltoJH
they
livelong eoough to).
'
On first re6ection we migbt think that,
sioce we aU grow old, it would be easier
lo attack tbe problems of ihe elduly
than it has been to attack tbe1'roblems
of otber minorities. Sucb reasoning
is
not necessarily justified, howcver, wbeo
\'fe consider tbat the main reason for
dilcrimination toward tbe elderly
ís
tbe
very fact that we
aU
do
grow old. We
fear it and prefer
lO
avoid old pcople
that remind us oftbat eventuality.
Tbe
Last
I!:Demy
Deatb
is
stiiT· tbe "last enemy." We
haven't lost
our
desire to discover a
Fountain of Youtb. The question
is,
~
we quest aner life and youlh and at tbe
same time come to tcrms with our own
inevitable aging?
That question
ís
pan
of
a
broader
riddle:
Can
we advance 10 tbe
new
while
stiU bonoring tbe
oúl!
This
fundamental
question permeates aU faccts of human
expcrience, nol just tbe tife cycle.
GeroniOpbobia
is
not only a manifes–
tation of our fear of deaih, but also a
weU-founded dread we expcrience after
sceing all tbat "old age" connotes in our
culture - poveny, loneliness, and rele-
gation to lhird-class citízensbip.
·
Sorne symptoms of gerontophobia
wiU cenainly linger
as
long as death
re>
mains on t.he enemy list Bul while we
ean't
walk
with conftdence througb tbe
"valley of !he shadow of death." our
civili2ation
would
be
more civillud
if its
elderly could say witb David, "Surely
goodness
and merey shall follow me
al/
the days ofmy life." •o
WllEK ENDINO JUNE 21, 1975