6 - Old Age
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 January 2022
Summary
Introduction
Old age conjures up a wild mix of emotions and responses. It is probably the age of life that people most fear, at least in its latter stages. David Mitchell has conjured up the terror old age has for many:
Behold your future.… You will not apply for membership, but the tribe of the elderly will claim you. Your present will not keep pace with the world’s. This slippage will stretch your skin, sag your skeleton, erode your hair and memory, make your skin turn opaque so your twitching organs and blue-cheese veins will be semi-visible. You will venture out only in daylight, avoiding weekends and school holidays. Language, too, will leave you behind, betraying your tribal affiliations whenever you speak. On escalators, on trunk roads, in supermarket aisles, the living will overtake you, incessantly. Elegant women will not see you. Store detectives will not see you.
Salespeople will not see you, unless they sell stair-lifts or fraudulent insurance policies. Only babies, cats and drug addicts will acknowledge your existence. So do not fritter away your days. Sooner than you fear, you will stand before a mirror in a care home, look at your body, and think, ET, locked in a ruddy cupboard for a fortnight.
But it is not difficult to find positive images of old age too: a couple sitting back in their deckchairs as they sail off on their luxury cruise, for example.
For many, old age will be a rest from work and a time to enjoy hobbies and other interests. One of the difficulties about writing about older people is the widely different experiences people in this age group have.
Old age is not just a personal issue. It is common to find it presented as a challenge for governments. Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, has written:
the social and economic implications of [ageing] are profound, extending far beyond the individual older person and the immediate family, touching broader society and the global community in unprecedented ways.
In response to the negative portrayals, it is notable that in recent years older people have come to be seen as a potential resource for society. An active ageing is encouraged; employment well beyond the traditional ‘retirement date’ is feasible; and older people are becoming seen as a solution for, rather than a cause of, some of the challenges society faces.
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- Law through the Life Course , pp. 149 - 170Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2021