Early Warning System

I'm currently reading Marcus Berkmann's "A Shed of ones Own" - Brilliant - very well observed & written. Very funny too.

One of his ideas which caught my fancy is that we oldies of middle age & above are an early warning system for the young. We tread the path which awaits them & could, if asked, give them pointers of what to expect & what to avoid. We have gone through the conveyor belt of life, & although we haven't quite reached the endgame & seen the bright shining light at the end of the tunnel, we have experienced most things. We know what getting "past your sell by date" really means.

We understand that we cannot control the deterioration of mind & body, although some of us do try, in varying degrees, and at huge variation in cost, both in time & money terms. I don't think this is the time or place to burden you with too much detail. If you want to know, you have only to post. It just seems a pity that the huge resource of age isn't recognised & utilised more. 

Ageing is, like so many things, something which each generation avoids until it's too late & seems to imagine won't happen to them in the same way it has happened to their parents. Sorry - Wrong. Broadly speaking, it will be identical. However, much like having children, I think that if you knew what you were in for, you would probably avoid it at all costs. Indeed, there is an argument for being able to get off the conveyor belt when the going gets too tough.

But, again like procreation, the drive to live is very strong. So most of us potter on to the bitter end in varying degrees of happiness & comfort. For most of us the physical & mental decline is slow & symbiotic. So, hopefully, we become less & less aware of what we can't do anymore.

We are the silent, grey, majority & we are multiplying. So beware!