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Our sell-by date

By Arthur Webster of Ask Old Coot

As I get older and look around me at the world as it is I have to ask myself what the purpose of old people is.

Maybe the thinking of uncomfortable thoughts is a purpose for us but there must be a reason for us to persist.

When I look around the world at the abject misery that rules in many lands because of the self-indulgent consumerism of the civilised(?) western world, it does occur to me that age can't really be its own reward.

Africa is not far from where I am sitting at the moment and there is every likelihood that, within the same distance, Africans are sitting in leaky boats trying to escape into Spain to seek a better life. Many of these will die before they even see the coastline of Spain and some will wash up on the beaches as bloated, half eaten corpses.

Africa is a fabulous continent that was quite capable of supporting the hundreds of tribes and nations that co-existed before we (the christian, civilised west) invaded and swept away thousands of years of tradition in order to feed the growing consumerism (a.k.a. greed) within our own shores.

Thousands of square miles of timber have been razed to feed the demands of other continents. The indigenous populations, human and animal, have been ruthlessly exploited, initially by christians but then by evil and despotic rulers who were put into positions of power by we, who simply did not understand the intricate and mutually supportive tribal structures of a land that, until us, did not know corporate created famine and drought.

We now are using grain that could ease some of the worst depredations on the dark continent in order to run motor cars!

It is not an easy thought to handle but why do we allow ourselves to be a party to the systematic destruction of other nations? Why do we allow our old people to continue consuming beyond their useful life? The cost of delivering the products consumed by one old person in the West would probably feed a whole village for a year in the third world.

Why do we allow our leaders to become so much worse than those we have installed elsewhere? Our leaders do not act out of centuries of tribal tradition - they act out of self agrandisement and greed. They deliberately go to seek produce from poorer countries in order to maintain profit levels despite the hardship and pain it causes to those people whom they are supposed to be serving and who could probably produce the goods locally. We are sheep following wolverines that have determined that they can and will consume all before them.

Our young people are following the very worst of the old people in our countries. They are following liars, cheats, thieves and, worst of all, they are creating a tradition of lying, cheating and stealing. Look around you and look at the results of allowing old people to fail to serve a purpose. Instead of being the crusty old support system that helped to ground so many of the crazy ideas in the past, our old people are now seen as 'out of touch' and irrelevant. It was our old people who helped to instil the pride and desire to serve your country in the days when serving your country was something to be proud of. It was our old people that maintained the national traditions that bound our societies together. Our old people are no longer sought out for advice, ideas or simple conversation, they are tucked away in nurseries where they are tended like plants, fed and watered and allowed to go to pot.

Is it time that we should have a sell-by date?

Isn't it time that the huge, consuming population of the western world was cut back a bit to enable the survival of the nations that we are gradually starving to death? When they have all starved, what then? Is that the start of a Utopia in the west with a new round of emmigrations to another 'new world'?

Contributor's Note

What was that? Oh. It's fine for millions to starve in Ethiopia but a tragedy if one starves to death in Washington. I'm glad you get the point. As I said, uncomfortable but not so unthinkable.

I understand your thinking Arthur... and it is uncomfortable but not unthinkable. I would suggest that perhaps the idea of a sell-by date should be placed on politicians, and those in positions authority -- and maybe even a social conscience IQ test (would that we actually had such a beast!).

It's very strange how the people who understand modern life and modern technology - the YOUNG - aren't able to impose their knowlegeable ways upon society. Where is the logic in teaching our young and then ensuring that they will never get into a position to use their knowledge until they are older - by which time, of course, they are out of date.

Current developments in all areas of life are happening far too fast for old brains to assimilate and, even though we talk about going green and saving the planet, the people who are driven to do these things are also the least able to influence the greedy, stupid, lying politicians and civil administrations.

Only a cash-less society that supports all members will enable the development of a social conscience - after all, it won't cost anybody anything to belong.

Recently, I saw a movie called "The End Of Poverty?" (notice the question mark) that supported much of what you've written. Really well done. Of course, we get the politicians we deserve so I don't blame the poor dears. After all, we elected them.

We might have elected the politians but we sure as Hell did not select them! There isn't a politician alive today who did not buy or beat his way into office.

We allow ourselves to be conned into thinking that we have a choice because we are too 'polite or simple minded' to believe otherwise.

In most of the western world the political parties that win elections are those that can throw the most money at the process. This has always been an unacknowledged scandal but we live with it because we know that, whatever happens, the election is only the smoke screen that hides the negotiations.

Politicians should definitely NOT be allowed to accumulate the wealth and reputation of years. We don't get the politicians we deserve, we get t5he politicians the establishment says we can have.

Very uncomfortable thinking, Arthur, but I think you'll find that many people have exactly the same thoughts, even though they can't express so well.

One of my sisters works in a nursing home, and she would agree with you. We cull animals when there are too many of them, and humans are, after all, animals.

Perhaps voluntary euthanasia isn't such a bad thing after all - I believe many people in pain, or other suffering would be glad of the option. Or am I touching upon yet another uncomfortable and unthinkable thing here?

Hi, Jean,

It's only uncomfortable and unthinkable because humans kid themselves that they are a higher species. The only advantage that humans have over other animals is the range of tools available to them. The only advantage that animals have over humans is their inability to formulate abstract ideas. Old animals die. Their deaths will often serve the very useful purpose of distracting predators from the younger members of the group and helping to ensure the survival of the species.

Humans treat all humans as 'of value' (unless, of course, they live in another country, are a different colour or speak a different language) and demonstarte that value by a level of cruelty that would not be tolerated if it was aimed at a dog in the street.

Only human beings have to beg and plead to be put out of their misery at the end of their useful span. Only human beings are denied the right to self termination.

Maybe some of the old are kept around to give guidence to the young, as they don't have a clue. However,I believe that your image tells it like it is! Someone should take the scooter away and make the fat man walk!
Keep up the wise intels, Arthur.
Best to you.
Frederick

Hi, Frederick,
I would like to think that the older generation would be of use in guiding the younger but I'm afraid most of us do not understand modern morality.
We come from an age when it was not necessary to say to someone 'It is your responsibility to . . . . . '. We knew our responsibilities because that was the basic grounding that we all had. Even the smallest child had a particular chore or job to do around the home and was pleased to do it. We grew up always hoping that our good behaviour would be recognised by the giving and receiving of small rewards. We were never told that we had 'rights' to anything because we received everything that our elders and betters recognised that we needed.

Nowadays it is difficult to separate children from their chartered rights. Discipline is a quaint old word in the dictionary. The family is something that we remember but can't quite envision in its entirety any more. Worst of all, we can no longer have an opinion about anything without having it cleared by the moral PC majority.

The one part of the equation that is often not talked about is that the birth rate exceeds the death rate. That imbalance is getting geometrically worse as time goes on.

The birth rate is geometrically increasing while the death rate is decreasing with "medical advances".

While this is true in some areas of the world there are many countries in Europe that do not have a higher annual birth rate than death rate thanks to the advances in fertility control and the depredations of financial collapse.

In the third world the reverse is true because of the depredations of tribal traditions and social expectations.

The major problem that the imbalance in the birth/death rates gives rise to is the falling percentage of the population able to contribute to the maintenance of the older, retired percentage of the population.

Those of us that live in countries with a social conscience and, therefor, a national social security programme have seen the taxes that were supposed to finance the social arena diverted into grandiose schemes that have failed to produce the necessary returns to finance even a basic subsistence level of pension.

The traditional retirement dates have been enforced so that people who could have continued to provide for themselves have had that ability taken away from them. This, in turn, has caused many ancient and traditional crafts to die out - just at the time that the younger generation were beginning to appreciate them.

Variations in the birth/death rates only will affect a short period of time, after all, we all get one each. It's only the gap between them that changes - but how much of that gap is quality time?

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