‘Old age has its pleasures, which, though different, are not less than
the pleasures of youth’ (W. Somerset Maugham)

‘To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am!’ (Bernard Baruch)

‘It is when a person begins to live in the past, the good old days, that
the boat begins to drift downstream, eventually coming to rest in
stagnant waters’ (Frank Case)

‘Most of us never get too old to learn some new way of being stupid’
(Anon)

‘Getting along in years: When you know all the answers, but nobody asks
you the question’ (Anon).

‘Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my
strength is spent’ (Psalm 71:9)

IYOP ’99: Looks like it could be someone’s computer password, doesn’t
it? The United Nations has designated this year as the International
Year of Older Persons. It was Ambassador Julia T. Alvarez of the
Dominican Republic who prompted the UN to recognize the importance of
older people in this way.

Earth’s soon-to-be one billion elders make rich, unique contributions to
our lives, often poorly recognized. So during the last year of this
remarkable century, people all over the world are preparing to celebrate
aging. The IYOP theme – ‘towards a society for all ages’ – emphasises
greater integration between the young and the old today, and building
stronger understanding for tomorrow.

‘I am an Older Person and I am Proud of it’ This was the message
delivered by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan at the ceremony launching
the International Year of Older Persons on October 1st in New York. His
speech emphasised the increasing importance of valuing longevity in a
world that is rapidly ageing: ‘We are in the midst of a silent
revolution. It is a revolution that extends well beyond demographics,
with major economic, social, cultural, psychological and spiritual
implications’, he said.

One of the key goals is to encourage UN Member States to look ahead and
make long-term plans. Australia has a ‘National Strategy for an Ageing
Australia’.

Consider:

# In 1950, according to United Nations estimates, there were
approximately 200 million persons 60 years of age and over
throughout the world. By 1975, their number had increased to 350
million. By 2000 the number will increase to 590 million, and by the
year 2025 to over 1,100 million; that is, an increase of 224 per cent
since 1975. During this same period, the world’s population as a whole
is expected to increase from 4.1 billion to 8.2 billion, an increase of
102 per cent. Thus, 45 years from now the ageing will constitute 13.7
per cent of the world’s population.

# In 1975 slightly over half (52 per cent) of all persons aged 60 and
over lived in the developing countries. By the year 2000 over 60 per
cent of all older persons are expected to live in those countries; 72
per cent by 2025.

# By 2031, the average age in Australia will be 42 years (as opposed to
32 now); 20 per cent of the population will be older than 60 and the
number of people over the age of 80 will have doubled.

Growing old is something only children look forward to. Right? Often
yes, unfortunately. Old age, laments a character in Shakespeare, is
‘mere oblivion, sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.’ The
Egyptian philosopher Ptah-hotep wrote in 2,500 B.C. that ‘old age is the
worst of misfortunes that can afflict anyone.’

Robert Browning was more optimistic:

Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made

Each of us grows older every minute, every day. We – all of us – are the
‘ageing’.

Throughout history the aged have occupied either a precarious and/or a
highly honoured position in various societies. Among hunters and
gatherers the old can be a burden: Eskimos sometimes had to leave them
behind when they could no longer care for themselves. The elderly among
some South Sea island peoples simply paddled away from their families –
into the ocean and to death.

When young people are asked in surveys to provide some words they
associate with growing old, they regularly offer ideas like ‘senile’, or
‘useless’. Older people may be viewed as occupying various states of
senility, many living purposeless lives in institutions.

But this is largely a myth. Growing old does not mean that life can’t be
enjoyable, fulfilling and productive. I know a lady over 80 who teaches
half a dozen Religious Instruction classes in a State school. I read the
other day of a Japanese university student who is 108 (that’s not a
misprint!). Some changes as we grow older may be painful – even
traumatic. But counselors-of-older people tell us that if we anticipate
and accept the ageing process then ‘old age’ can be a very rewarding
part of our lives.

Appreciating Older Persons

The Hebrew and Christian Scriptures urge us to honor older people. ‘Show
respect for old people and honour them. Fear me; I am the Lord’
(Leviticus 19:32). ‘Grey hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a
righteous life; The glory of youths is their strength, but the beauty of
the aged is their grey hair’ (Proverbs 16:31; 20:29). ‘Do not speak
harshly to an older man, but speak to him as a father’ (1 Timothy 5:1).

There are many reasons for honoring our seniors. Here’s something from
the pen, oops… the dictaphone and/or computer, of the Baptist Union of
Victoria’s General Superintendent, Rev. John Simpson, titled ‘IN DEFENCE
OF LITTLE OLD LADIES’:

‘Uncertainties about the value of pastoral visitation are sometimes
expressed by busy ministers in the well-worn declaration, “I do not have
the time to have cups of tea with little old ladies.” Now what’s wrong
with cups of tea and, more particularly, with little old ladies who
apparently do not need active pastoral interest?

‘In many of our churches we are doing a terrible mischief to our senior
citizens without realising it. Basically, our memory fails us. What do
we forget? Simply the truth that the little old ladies (along with their
husbands who have often gone on to the glory ahead of them) were, in
their hey day, the people who kept the church alive through thick and
thin.

‘In so many of our churches, it was the little old ladies who helped
launch the work in the first place. They made the sandwiches for the
Sunday School picnic before everybody trooped off in furniture vans to
places which have now been swallowed by housing estates. They ran
Christian Endeavour, packed parcels for missionaries in far off lands,
played the piano or the pedal organ, sang songs from Alexanders in the
choir and prayed fervently for the seemingly impossible. They saved
their pennies from the house-keeping to help pay off the church debt on
the multi purpose hall. In short they were real saints. Subtract their
enormous contribution to the life of the church forty or fifty or more
years ago and there simply would not be as many churches today. And the
good news is that many of these heroines of the local church are still
with us in our churches now. They may not be as sprightly; we may not
see them as often; their hearing and eyesight may be a trifle marginal
but they are still the same faithful people as they always were.

‘It’s true that their minds may drift back to the good old days but you
can hardly blame them for that. There were not as many grey issues as
there are today. A spade was a spade. You knew when the gospel was being
preached. Life lacked much of the finesse and the affluence which we
take for granted these days. People walked to church so parking was
never a problem. Sunday was a time not only for worship but for catching
up with the wider family. TV had not yet had the chance to ruin the art
of conversation. It was the land of newsreels, Jack Davey, Smokey Dawson
and the Argonauts.

‘So why is it that we are now too busy to have cups of tea with these
precious people who lived out the faith with considerable sacrifice and
determination, who have given to us a rich heritage priceless beyond
pearls…?’ Good questions, John.

Our seniors remind us that some old-fashioned values are worth
preserving. A few years ago the singer B.J. Thomas recorded a song
called ‘Whatever happened to old fashioned love?’ He sang about
‘the love that lasts through the years; the kind of love that my mother
and father had?’

Another good question. What did happen to old fashioned love – the love
that required commitment, the kind of love that made lasting marriages
and close families? Hollywood has redefined love and linked the concept
more with sex and romance than with commitment.

WHEN IS ‘OLD’?

But wait a minute, when are you ‘old’?

I’m 62 this year: is that old or young? I run up stairs, spend a couple
of hours a day on the computer, and surf the Net, change my mind from
time to time when new information comes along; try to read or learn
something new each year – I guess that’s ‘young’. But when I look in the
mirror I sometimes see my father; a few joints don’t work properly; I
hate instruction manuals or fixing things; some 40-year-old counselees
relate to me as ‘the father they never had’; I know who BiggIes is; I
collect F.W.Boreham books; I’m ready to die because I’ve achieved many
of my life’s goals – these mean I’m probably ‘old’.

Old age, as we know, is more a mental attitude than a chronological
benchmark.

Age is a quality of mind
If you have left your dreams behind,
If hope is cold,
If you no longer look ahead,
If your ambition’s fires are dead,
Then you are old.
But if from life you take the best;
If in life you keep the zest
If love you hold,
No matter how the years go by,
No matter how the birthdays fly,
You are not old. (Edward Tuck)

In our culture we do all we can to postpone old age. Advertisers tell us
of many products to help us look or feel young. But in the Bible older
people are respected highly. Their wisdom is sought, and they are
treated with deference. The older years are golden years.

Older people usually have more discretionary time: until the senior
years their focus was on the needs of family, children and/or work. The
elderly can also be our guardians of rituals and traditions: they
treasure birthdays, keeping in touch at Christmas, and remind us of the
importance of rites of passage.

But older people face some hard challenges: perhaps greater dependency
on others, lack of money, boredom, ill health, feeling marginalized from
family and society. In the face of rapid social and intellectual change
they may feel disoriented. When your hearing or your concentration goes,
conducting a meaningful conversation can be frustrating.

So how can we best honour older persons?

There are lots of ways, but let me mention just one. I had lunch with a
woman pastor, and asked how her ministry was going. Her face lit up:
‘Recently, I introduced a lonely older lady to a harried single mum with
two kids. The older person needed the company of children, and the young
mum needed help – especially to see some modeling about how to be a good
mother. They’re now enriching each other’s lives in unbelievable ways.’
Some of our churches have an ‘Adopt a Grandmother’ program: they
generally work well.

In another article in this series I want to write about Grandparenting.
Jan and I have four terrific grandchildren, who enrich our lives in many
ways. We endorse the old adage: ‘If we knew grandparenting was this good
we’d have had grandchildren first!’

The UN’s ‘International Plan of Action on Ageing’ states: ‘An important
objective… is an age-integrated society, in which age discrimination and
involuntary segregation are eliminated and in which solidarity and
mutual support among generations are encouraged.’

The old need the young, and vice versa. It’s possible to live a whole
life these days and not interact with people aged much more or less than
ours. The old usually know much more about discipline and commitment.
The young have opportunities to use their time and conversation and
talents to encourage the old.

And let none of us forget: ‘The fragrance always remains in the hand
that gives the rose’ (Heda Bejar)

Discuss:

* Look up the following Scripture passages and discuss some of the
opportunities and characteristics of the ‘golden years’ – and our
response to ‘elders’ – they suggest: 1 Timothy 5:5-10, Acts 11:36-43,
Titus 2:1-5.

* ‘Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my
strength is spent’ (Psalm 71:9). How can the young support older persons
more appropriately?

* A chaplain to the elderly made this comment: ‘The best thing we can do
for the elderly is remotivation for good works.’ What did the chaplain
mean?

* What can your church/community group do to mix people of different
ages creatively together?

* ‘There’s a difference between ‘caretaking’ and ‘caregiving’.. ‘In
caretaking, something is taken. In caregiving, something is given. And
that something is love, warmth, energy.’ How does this apply to the care
of older people?

* The UN’s International Plan of Action on Ageing says: ‘Ageing is a
lifelong process and should be recognized as such. Preparation of the
entire population for the later stages of life should be an integral
part of social policies and encompass physical, psychological, cultural,
religious, spiritual, economic, health and other factors…’ How can
churches help here?

Good websites:

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/iyop (The U.N. IYOP website)

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/ageipaa1.htm (International Plan of Action
on Ageing)

http://www.iyop.org/news.htm (The British IYOP website)

http://www.thirdage.com/features/other/701/index.html – Links to 701
Internet sites for ‘Third Agers’

http://seniors-site.com/funstuff/ (Humour for seniors: beware – some of
it was not written by conservaative Christians!)

http://seniors-site.com/ (Where seniors talk to one another)

http://www.uconnect.com/CGA/ (A website for grandparents)

http://www.grandtimes.com/ (Grandtimes – a weekly magazine for seniors)

http://www.humguide.com/seniornews/issues/9810a.shtml (monthly magazine
for seniors)

http://bsam.org/ (Baptist Senior Adult Ministries, located in the
Washington D.C. area) of the U.S.)

http://www.fortnet.org/WidowNet/ (a resource for widows)

Selected Reading:

Robert Gray and David O. Moberg, The Church and the Older Person,
Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1977.

Charles Wells, ‘Dear Old Man: Letters to Myself on Growing Old’ Backbone
Press, Nashville, TN, 1996: wise words from a geriatric psychiatrist.

Paul Tournier, ‘Learn to Grow Old’, Harper & Row, New York, 1972.

Rowland Croucher, ‘The Family: At Home in a Heartless World’,
HarperCollins, 1995, especially chapter 20, ‘Grandparents Are Very
Special People’.

Further articles in this series (Contact David Oliver at Baptist
Community Care Victoria for details about publication details):
Preparing for Retirement; Grandparenting; Caleb: a premier senior
citizen; When You Have Lost a Loved One; Caring for Older Persons;
Senior Years can be Golden Years; Preparing for the Death-event.

Signs of Fine Age

* You keep repeating yourself.
* You discover bifocals are stylish!
* When you do the ‘Hokey Pokey’ you put your left hip out…and it stays
out.
* You discover the words, ‘whippersnapper’, ‘scalawag’ and ‘by-crackity’
creeping into your vocabulary.
* You enjoy hearing about other people’s operations.
* Most women you know under 40 put you in the ‘Friend of my Father’
class.
* You get into a heated argument about pension plans.
* The end of your tie doesn’t come anywhere near the top of your pants.
* You have more hair in your ears and nose than on your head.
* You keep repeating yourself.
* You quit trying to hold your stomach in, no matter who walks into the
room.
* Relatives smile benignly rather than interrupt you as you retell the
same story for the zillionth time.
* You run out of breath walking DOWN a flight of stairs.
* You sing along with the elevator music.
* Neighbors borrow your tools.
* You’re on a TV game show and you decide to risk it all and go for the
rocker.
* You are proud of your push lawn mower.
* Lawn care has become a big highlight of your life.
* Your arms are almost too short to read the newspaper.
* Your classmates at your reunion think you’re one of their former
teachers.
* You keep repeating yourself.
* Your relatives longingly refer to your things as your ‘estate’.
* People don’t harass you any more when you take an afternoon nap.

Seniors in Heaven

For seniors humour is very important. Last week I heard about an old
geezer who lived many years, but unfortunately he kept telling everyone
how he survived the Ohio River floods until they were bored to tears.
Finally the old geezer died and went up to heaven. St. Peter met him at
the Pearly Gates and said, ‘Welcome to Heaven! We’d like you to be
eternally happy, so if there’s anything you’d like
to do, anything at all, just tell me and we’ll fix it up for you.’

‘Thanks,’ said the old geezer. ‘I’d sure like to tell a bunch of folks
about how I survived the Ohio River floods.’

‘No problem,’ said St. Peter. ‘I’ll make the arrangements and get back
to you.’

A few days later, St. Peter contacted the old geezer and took him to the
lecture hall where he was to give his talk. They both waited backstage
while the audience got settled, and the geezer was pleased to see that
it was rather a large crowd. The St. Peter grabbed the old geezer’s arm.
‘Now, I don’t want to make you nervous, but I’ve just spotted Noah in
the crowd.’

An 85 year old couple, having been married almost 60 years, died in a car
crash. They had been in good health the last ten years mainly due to her interest
in health food, and exercise.

When they reached the pearly gates, St. Peter took them to their mansion
which was decked out with a beautiful kitchen and master bath suite and Jacuzzi.

As they ‘oohed and aahed’ the old man asked Peter how much all this was going
to cost.

‘It’s free,’ Peter replied, ‘this is Heaven.’

Next they went out back to survey the championship golf course that the home
backed up to. They would have golfing privileges everyday and each week the
course changed to a new one surpassing the great golf courses on earth.

The old man asked, ‘what are the green fees?’

Peter’s reply: ‘This is heaven, you play for free.’

Next they went to the club-house and saw the lavish buffet lunch with the
cuisines of the world laid out.

‘How much to eat?’ asked the old man.

‘Don’t you understand yet? This is heaven, it is free!’ Peter replied with
some exasperation.

‘Well, where are the low fat and low cholesterol tables?’ the old man asked
timidly.

Peter lectured, ‘That’s the best part…you can eat as much as you like of
whatever you like and you never get fat and you never get sick. This is Heaven.’

With that the old man went into a fit of anger, throwing down his hat and
stomping on it, and shrieking wildly.

Peter and his wife both tried to calm him down, asking him what was wrong.
The old man looked at his wife and said, ‘This is all your fault. If it weren’t
for your blasted bran muffins, I could have been here ten years ago!’

Rowland Croucher

January 1999