Can Some Elders Really be Blamed?

[Waterstar]

"My God, the process of aging brings senility. My mind decays and forgetfulness of the things of yesterday has already begun. Feebleness has come and weakness grows. Childlike one sleeps all day. The eyes are dim and the ears are becoming deaf. The strength is being sapped. The mouth has grown silent and does not speak. The bones ache through and through. Good things now seem evil. The taste is gone. What old age does to people in evil is every thing. Thhe nose is clogged and does not breathe. It is painful even to stand or to sit.

May your servant be authorized to use the status that old age affords to teach the hearers so as to tell them the words of those who have listened to the ways of our ancestors and of those who have liatened to the Gods. May I do this for you so that strife may be banned from among our people and so that the Two Shores may serve you?"

Then the majesty of the Diety said to Ptahhotep, go ahead and instruct him in the Ancient Wisdom. May he become a model for the children of the great. May obedience enter into him and may he be devoted to the one who speaks to him. No one is born wise.

-From the teachings of Ptahhotep

"My God, the process of aging brings senility. My mind decays and forgetfulness of the things of yesterday has already begun. Feebleness has come and weakness grows. Childlike one sleeps all day. The eyes are dim and the ears are becoming deaf. The strength is being sapped. The mouth has grown silent and does not speak. The bones ache through and through. Good things now seem evil. The taste is gone. What old age does to people in evil is every thing. Thhe nose is clogged and does not breathe. It is painful even to stand or to sit.

In all seriousness, this sounds like a miserable way to live. Can someone who is in such misery really be blamed for acting miserably? For those of us who are younger, if we live long enough, this and probably even more could very well be a normal part of what we have to look forward to. Sure as hell better try to teach the younger ones to respect and to have patience with their elders. After all, as we should remind them, if they live long enough, that and much, much more could very well be a normal part of what they have to look forward to.

[Cynique]

”Maybe you should stop ranting about racism long enough to put your ageism in check, WaterStar. Youth is wasted on the young and wine mellows with age. Among the things that mellowing entails is the revelation that laughter is good medicine along with taming the ego and realizing the value of self-examination.

"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished by how much he'd learned in seven years." Mark Twain