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Re: Sweet and Nice -- and Very Dictatorial.



On 12 Dec 1996, David Lloyd-Jones wrote:

> On Wed, 11 Dec 1996 13:23:31 EDT, Toby Reiter <str4552@OBERLIN.EDU>
> wrote:
> 
> >                                                       Longer lives 
> >are only valuable when the elderly can be encouraged to serve as leaders 
> >and sages in a human quest for societal improvement, and human 
> >consumption over a lifetime is decreased dramatically.
> 
> With modern multi-media you can include the violins in the background,
> too.  However, I think that if you consult a few old people you will
> find that they are perfectly happy to keep on living even if it means
> another day of begging to rustle up the cash for the next pack of
> tobacco and bottle of wine.  Or maybe another day at the club, trying
> to knock the little dimpled ball into the hole.
>  
> Your values are sweet and nice -- but this does not give you the right
> to go around condeming other people's lives as worthless.

Before the turn of the century, the elderly were often perceived as the 
wise and seasoned members of society.  However, at some point in this 
century, we have ceased to respect and utilize the knowledge base which 
the elderly possess.  I do not believe elderly choose to live a life of 
golf and shuffleboard, but that they are socially forced into this 
position. The primary reason for this is the severing of the sacred bonds 
which existed between generations for the passing down of knowledge from 
the old to the young.  If senior citizens in this country once again 
resumed their rightful positions as sages, instead of being simply 
classified as dottering old geezers, than this country would profit 
tremendously.

Just because I recognize that the elderly in this country are not being 
used to their best potential doesn't mean I feel them as worthless. I 
just feel that a consumption-based society, in which little effort is 
given towards social and moral improvement, and almost all resources are 
dedicated to economic improvement, automatically, out of the need for 
consumer segregation, separates different generations.



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