Editorial
You know you’re getting old when every store clerk automatically gives you the senior’s discount without asking. Or when you stub your toe and it still hurts a month later.
Yes, the telltale signs of aging are all there, and they go far beyond the colour grey. For example, your partner asks you to get something from the grocery store, but you return 15 minutes later with . . . gumdrops.
Your wife, who has a bit of a mean streak, yells: “Don’t you remember? I said the ‘Old Geezer’ brand pork chops that come with a set of hearing aids.”
Don’t sweat it, Harold, you’re just getting old and less important in society. Huh? Says who? A lot of people, such as that kid who nearly knocked you over on his electric scooter.
Don’t have a shoulder to cry on? All is not lost. The BC Seniors Advocate wants to hear from you in the province’s ageism survey. Just the announcement alone makes you feel geriatric. But that’s the point: you are.
The province wants seniors to share their perceptions and experiences on how it feels to be old. Well, ask any senior and they will tell you they felt a damn sight better at age 20. Case in point — if you went on a roller coaster today on the insistence of your grandson, you’d have to check yourself into a vestibular rehabilitation clinic afterwards, either that or hire a forensic expert to find all of your hair follicles on the track.
The short survey, open until December 13, touches on cost of living, affordable housing, health care, and aging in place. Frankly, where else are you going to age in place? Standing in line at Service BC?
Seniors are definitely struggling as they grow older. For instance, they are preyed upon by con artists who may one day be victims of fraud themselves after spending thousands of dollars freeing a granddaughter from jail, only to learn they don’t have a granddaughter.
Seniors are the backbone of the community through their volunteer efforts, but many report feeling “invisible,” a sad fact since ageing is often referred to the last socially-acceptable form of prejudice.
The truth is seniors have a lot of potential left and should be recognized for shaping the world for the better. They’ve carried many burdens on their shoulders so that life wouldn’t be a burden on their children.
They have sacrificed much to make our lives easier. Given us hope when there didn’t appear to be any. Quite frankly, we owe them big time.
Gumdrops, pork chops . . . who cares? Both taste great, anyway.
Lyonel Doherty, editor
