THE REALITIES OF OLD AGE

The realities of old age

Feeling sorry for future generations

I was born in 1942 and I am fortunate in that although over 80 years old, the teeth I still have are my own and I need no “false” dentures, I use glasses for reading but my distance sight is still reasonable. I can still do my yoga stretches and follow these with 20 press ups every day, may be because I do this every day, I avoid the problems of cramp in leg muscles for most of the time. My spatial awareness and reaction times are reasonable. But I am old, even in modern times I am old and if I had lived this long a thousand years ago, I would have been a freak, something to be venerated simply because I was still alive. I am an engineer (electro-mechanical) by both nature and training but while I am interested in the latest engineering advances, I cannot pretend, even to myself, that I fully understand every aspect. I am from the Newtonian understanding of physics, even at school I was taught to always go back to basics, in order to follow, understand and predict the behaviour of material objects. We understood the cycles of water and carbon, We learnt the basic rules about matter and energy being transformed but never created or destroyed. We learnt to always consider “what happens next.” The marvels of quantum physics and quantum mechanics are concepts I did not have to use during my working life and so I do not have a grasp of the uses these are being put to now.

From my middle age I became interested in “natural medicines” in the workings of the human body, folk medicine, and ways of being healthy without the dependence on pharmacological products. Do not get me wrong, I have had surgery and without that I would not be alive. I consult my GP and my dentist when I feel the need. I have no objection to the acceptance of medicinal support when needed. It was during my forties that I started yoga and still find this beneficial, but I am old and have to accept that I no longer have the flexibility to hold extreme postures. The study of the human body superimposed on my electro-mechanical engineering training, means that when confronted by an ache or pain I mentally seek the cause from a mechanical viewpoint, before considering the possibility of a chemical cause. My ancestors were rural people, they worked the land and the farms, they worked with the heavy horses that were the mobile energy sources in those times. They worked hard, some died young, others lived to over 90 years old. They did not follow any published dietary fashion, but nor did they seek novelty in their food. Food was fuel for the body and nothing more, or less. What is certain is that no artificial chemicals found the way into their food. They did not use the term but everything they eat was “organic” Processed food was homemade sausages or bread. Electricity was unusual in the countryside hamlets and so refrigeration was non-existent even in the milking parlours. Water came from wells and sewage was in a ditch. The combination of my ancestry, my education and training, added to the period that my adolescent years were shaped by; have made me as I am. Those years between school and adulthood, say from 15 years old to 25 years, were years following WW2. I had very loving and forgiving parents that while materially poor gave me a happy childhood. The time when I was 18 years old was a period when the attitude of most people was still coloured by the loss of life, the courage of 18-year-old men, who flew the spitfires, who walked up the beaches at Normandy and saved the nation. Due to this collective memory, we those of my age group, were indulged, encouraged, and supported even when taking physical risks that would cause horror in 2023. We rode motorcycles before the wearing of helmets was a legal necessity, we did wear them in winter as riding at 80 mph into a freezing rain without one, is not very comfortable. The only speed limits were the 30 ones in larger towns, a test for intoxication was the ability to walk in a straight line. Telephones and televisions were only for the rich.

Now I am old and have to face the reality that all that wild adventure, that lack of responsibility, is history. One of the many things that makes me feel sympathy for my children and grandchildren is the imposition of responsibility on them. Society, or at least the media and the government, piles responsibility of to everyone for everything. My grandchildren cannot influence the need, for say China, has for more energy, they do not control the eruptions of volcanoes, they are not responsible for the hunger in the third world and yet we are all made to feel it is our fault, we must make amends for things that happened hundreds of years ago, we must all change to meet some artificial contrived opinion of what is best. One thing old age has taught me is that we can only make decisions based on what is true and known to be true at the time we make them. Looking back and saying this government or that government, should have known better, is futile, a total waste of energy. They did what they thought was right at that time. Get over it. Move on. Start from here and now.

The reality of getting old is that you get less ability to influence events, As you get old you realise you never could control events, but you could use skill, knowledge, and energy to influence things, but when you are old you lose this influence. You may still have the knowledge and skill but energy and more importantly, other people’s willingness to let you have influence, drains away. Another unpleasant reality is the need for assistance. The modern world, in developed nations, has become dependent on technology, the virtues of improvisation and fundamental artisan skills, have been eroded. Just about every aspect of life now has “professional” advisors that seem to be vital to well-being. Everything is now dependent on “experts” some are self-declared (rather than trained) experts, but it seems nothing can be done without them. From “relationships” to what clothes to wear. Everything is subject to scrutiny and criticism by others. A farmer cannot grow what they chose in the way they choose, they all have to obey rules and regulations, imposed by people with no farming experience. A child cannot walk barefoot in the rain without someone claiming, “a problem exists.” There are laws about what one person can say to another, and yet there is hunger, neglect, and vile abuse, still going on. What is “comic” is subject to scrutiny and sanctions, how does anyone become an expert of what is allowed to be funny? I do feel sorry for generations that are to come, they will never have the freedom that my generation had, the freedom to make mistakes, the freedom to get hurt, the freedom to be stupid and so learn from it.

Getting old means the gathering of experiences and memories, it means you have lived through the consequences of your own, and others, past mistakes. It means you have had sorrow and joy, pain, and exhilaration. Getting as old as I am, means you have “lost” many to death, cruel and untimely death. The pain stays with you just as the good memories also linger. It is said that time heals all things, but I am personally not sure about that, but I do know that time passes and not one of us can stop it. The reality of old age in 2023 is that there is an expectation that everyone can use the latest mobile technology, accessibility to information and assistance assumes that people have access to, and understanding of, modern mobile media gadgets. That is a false assumption. Those making this assumption are not the ones who will suffer the consequences of the false assumption. A reality is that touch screen gadgets especially small ones, are not designed for use by those with old and arthritic