Listening to music, relaxing
with my friends, watching people are great pastimes and allow me the luxury of
watching and thinking. I have noticed that I am seeing more and more of the
idea of the cranky old man. We have seen him on TV, in movies, and in cartoons.
Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau do a great version of him in the movie Grumpy Old
Men. This character seems to dislike everybody and everything. Step on his lawn
or get in his way at the store, and you will know it. Make a mistake to ask him
about the government or taxes, and your ears will burn for a week. Not wearing
a face mask. British author Carol Wyer has a different name: "irritable
male syndrome." This character is
always portrayed as retired, but he is not living a rewarding retirement.
I have seen the stereotype in
many places, but not very much in person. The people I see and interact with in the
seminars that I give on wellness and the members of my senior’s association
tend to be incredibly positive. I wonder why writers, and others think that so
many “old” people become bitter and negative? There is a perception that those who are enthusiastic
about life, stay positive and keep fit as they age are a rarity. This is a sad commentary on how society sees
ageing. People I know do make deliberate decisions to not complain about their
aches and pains because they know they have to get on with life and perhaps do
it a bit slower. However, we still see the world as a beautiful place, but it
does take work.
For the most part, the seniors
I know do not end up inflexible and intolerant. Those that do may be suffering
from undiagnosed depression.
The one thing about depression
is that the person that is depressed can't see it. The depressed person
believes they are seeing the world as it really is (terrible) and usually it's
the people around them that notice and urge them to get help. If someone
doesn't have people around them that care about them enough to insist, they get
medical and professional help it can just go on and on never being resolved.
This not a “do it yourself” condition. A person with depression cannot just
buck up and look on the bright side, count their blessings and so on. The upside
is that it can be successfully treated so do not give up, it has made a heck of
a difference to our life. A poem by Dylan Thomas that, I think speaks for many
of us who are ageing and who are fighting to keep the world a better place is below:
Do not go gentle into that good
night,
Old age should burn and rave at
close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of
the light.
Though wise men at their end
know dark is right,
Because their words had forked
no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good
night.
Good men, the last wave by,
crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have
danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of
the light.
Wild men who caught and sang
the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they
grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good
night.
Grave men, near death, who see
with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like
meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of
the light.
And you, my father, there on
the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your
fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good
night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
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