Getting old is strange

         Shall I tell you the strangest thing about getting old?

         You become invisible.

When you are young, you are something. You are beautiful, ugly, strong, handsome, tall, threatening, and sexy.

         When you get old, that stops.          Nobody gives you a second glance.          You become just another old fart in second hand clothes.

You become invisible.

These words came from a weekly television I have been watching. What is strange even more is the fact that the show was made in England. In a country where, it seems,  the elderly are treated much better than they are in the United States.

Here, seniors are becoming a burden. They are shipped off to “retirement homes”. They become stored in “nursery homes” or “assisted living centers”. Their homes are sold by the families, their personal belongings scrapped and tossed aside. Photos that have recorded their lives from their ancestors to their present day are locked away, never shown or shared.

When a senior passes away, there is usually a battle for control of the inheritance. Sometimes it’s between the siblings, sometimes between a member of the family and the government. Whoever wins, the elders name is forgotten, his or her life, buried with the body. In time, even the name becomes faded on a marble stone.

In today’s terms, it is said that the old must fade away to give room for the young. It is seen in all parts of our society. When a computer gets too old to function, it is thrown away, and a new, improved model takes its place. The phones that we carry meet the same fate. Sometimes it seems to happen every week. They are constantly changing and “improving”.

Many cities have a policy of tearing down old and dilapidated structures, making way for new ones to be built. Or homes are torn down to make way for roadways or new office buildings. A structure that no longer has any use makes way for one that does.

It is seen on television and in the movies. The older stars must leave so that the young ones can appear to make their own mark. All advertisements are geared towards the younger generation. If it is for the elders, it is usually a medical ad, or life insurance.
The older generation is being pushed back into oblivion. Even in entertainment, the young have their own type of music, which is understandable. The concept, not the music. They do at times thank some of the older musicians for the ideas and the sounds that paved the way for them to succeed. I used to work in a retirement home, where all the residents were at least eighty years old. They enjoyed listening to their music from the thirties and forties. Big band music played in the halls and every now and then you could hear a tune by Frank Sinatra or Tony Bennett. Now I sit and wonder about that time when I too will be in the same type of home, listening to the Beatles or Led Zeppelin. Can you picture a ninety-year-old man with headphones on, listening to Stairway to Heaven?

The world is becoming new. The old ways and old traditions are disappearing. The young have no use for them. They do not care about the achievements of their grandparents or the inventions of the past. They consider them outdated and stupid. They only see what is being done today, never realizing that the ideas of the past are what created the present. They do not have time to think about the past, they only think of their future. Some see it as a life of ease because of technology, others see it as destruction and turmoil caused by some fictional beings created in their minds or in the minds of the media.

Through it all it seems the world is in a way, becoming younger. The old is put away, the new is brought forth. The old are weak; the young are stronger. The old may have been wise but that is gone. It is time for the young and rise to arise. There is an “old saying”, the ones who forget the past, are doomed to repeat it. The same holds true if you forget the older generation. Remember where you came from.