What do old people offer to todays society?

I had a 93-year-old patient the other day who was telling me about the things he’d been researching on the internet. There is no age limit on intellect, vitality or “usefulness”.

Since most of the patients I work with are elderly, I have come to value their wisdom; and there are many whom I wish I could sit and chat with and pick their brains about their life experiences. Many people stay active in the work force beyond 70; sadly, it is often out of financial necessity these days.

Some would propose to cull out people by their physical capabilities, or their I.Q., or their religion, or their ethnicity… I suggest you study up on genocide. Read about the Holocaust, Rwanda and Darfur.

If you study history, I am sure there is some period in time where people just like you were being persecuted for some reason. For example, caucasian men were persecuted for being Christians back in Rome… they were not always the dominant ‘majority”.

I am guessing that you are quite young. Have you any grandparents or elderly relatives? Do yourself a favor and open your mind. Think about all the these individuals have witnessed and experienced in their lives. Wars, recessions, Loves and Loss, cultural and political revolutions, etc. The main thing they have to offer us is experience.

If you want to cull on the basis of those who “do very little,” why only the over 70 types?
Let’s cull the very young, crippled, welfare recipients, the slackers at work. We could really pare down the numbers and the world would be a better place!

@FAGIN: how old are you and what do you offer to todays society?

@johnpowell: I lurve you for taking the words right out of my mouth!

Those 70 year old people went to the moon. The computer you use now started with their ideas.

edit :: I know those numbers are off.

Never ever underestimate what the seniors citizens can do. I have received plenty of good advice on gardening and cooking (traditional foods) from them.

Killing off people simply because you perceive them to be useless is not only heartless, but completely inconsiderate of all life and one’s right to control their own life.

Tell you what, you don’t seem to be contributing much of value based on your questions so far, why don’t we cull you right now? That would be most efficient in the long run.

Do you know why we don’t? Because you have a right to live, just like an old person does, just like anyone does. No one has the right to deny life just because a person reaches some age. Hell, we’ve only been able to reliably reach 70, 80, 90 years of age during the past 100 years. Why would we want to start limiting ourselves now? (If your answer is lack of resources, well I would love to engage you in this discussion, but it basically ends in you being a hypocrite unless you consume the fewest resources and dedicate all your money to the poor.)

Not only can old people provide us with good advice, they can share their memories of the past which can be valuable in many ways. Not all old people are senile and useless, my grandpa in fact was up and active till the day he died, perfectly capable and able bodied. My grandma is still alive, she enjoys modern life, socializing with her friends (and attending funerals for less fortunate friends), using the computer even though she’s not great at it. Tell me here and now, what right do you have to tell my grandmother she does not deserve to live? You have no right. It’s as simple as that.

But beyond that, (most) old people have made a solid contribution to society and bettering their lives. They have raised families, paid their taxes, kept their lawns clean. They have worked for 40 years at jobs and conditions that no longer exist today. As far as I’m concerned, they have earned their ability to do nothing as their bodies increasingly age and they get closer to death.

i think people who ask shit questions are pretty useless. what do they add to society?

Strikes me that if a company is overstaffed it makes people redundant and the same applies right here.
Sentiment should not come into it.

@FAGIN: I didn’t think you could stoop that low.

Do not insult johnpowell, because that’s the fastest way to get on my ignore list, and many others.

While I understand where your ideas were stemming from, you need to realize that what you are asking is not only unappreciative of those who came before you, but it is murderous, insane, and unnecessarily cruel.

Culling the old, for the sake of:

- youth-centrism;
– a false sense of survival of the fittest;
– lack of usefulness;

is wrong. Our elderly still have stockpiles of income that they put into our economy, so that takes care of the notion that they are useless because they aren’t working. Our elderly as a collective provided us with the technologies and industries that currently exist, and therefore deserve respect and the right to sit back and rest – watching their children carry on the good work. Our elderly as a collective has “been there and done that”, and therefore deserve our attentive ears and careful respect as they divulge wisdom. Our elderly as a collective have more experience in the field, and the flexibility to continue learning new things – than a wet-behind-the-ears young buck.

Like someone above said, look up genocide. That’s what ideal you subscribe to. The murder of entire swathes of a population. Where does it stop? Why don’t you just start ethnic cleansing, since you believe so many Other people to be useless and lazy? Why don’t you get rid of people with IQ’s less than 100?

Hi, I’m a 28 year old and I have more respect for my elders than you do.

To all of our elders out there, thank you.

I think you will find that jp insulted me,as regards your views,they are your views and thanks for your input.
Please put me on your “ignore list”.

He insulted you and I agree with him.

If a redneck is stringing a person he hates up in a tree, and jp shoots a gun at the redneck, I’m not going to sit there and tell him not to.

@FAGIN there aren’t any ignore lists here; Fluther doesn’t work that way. However, we also have questions that are typically high quality and thought-provoking. Not ignorant and sad.

save your flamebait for somewhere else

Flamebait it is not!Just because the nervous wreck jp misrepresents my question does not make it flamebait and if you folks had minds of your own instead of following like sheep it could of been a good serious question.

<rolls eyes>

@FAGIN Squirbel answered your question in a very insigntful, intelligent manner, yet all you continue to do is ramble on about JP. That shows us that you didn’t want an intelligent reason as to why over 70 year olds should live, you just wanted to ask a flame bait question for attention.

stops following as the subject matter is infected with sheep.

oh good, @FAGIN ‘s gone. now we can delete this question. :)

heh, yeah. Seems he didn’t really want to know.

@squirbel maybe he’s got an unrequited crush on jp. ohwell.

These questions are just flamebait – he asks them and stops following when things get heated.

I throw litter out of my car on a regular basis,is this wrong seeing that i pay my taxes and part of my tax money goes to help keep the streets clean it also keeps people in work?

Yeah, he has another one about throwing trash out of his car. Idiot.

Why does anyone respond to him? We should just ignore him and quit giving him what he’s asking for. What a life he must have if he gets his giggles from trying to piss people off online.

He says he is going to stop following, but I would bet he is still reading them to get his thrill of attention.

@knitfroggy i think he’s trying to get jp to kiss him or something. maybe some hand stuff.

well, I wish him luck with that, I guess…doubt it’s gonna work tho

Now he’s screwing with squirbel in this thread

apparently the poor lad deleted his account. aww.

Or he got kicked off hopefully.

I’m serious, how sad to get your kicks from being an asshole on line.

F is gone. But I am curious about his obsession with age, plastic surgery and the worthlessness of anyone over 70. What kind of insecurity would cause that?

removed by me

@gailcalled I didn’t realize the plastic surgery question was his. How about the question where he thought he was doing a “Service” by throwing trash out of his car so people could keep their jobs by picking it up? Very strange little person.

This question is reminicent of Logans Run

I find nothing wrong here.In fact it is a great idea.
All old people especially the infirm should be given the choice to take some form of tablet.
I would love to have that choice.
The asker was attacked immediately and from then on in it turned into a free for all.
A lesson to be learned here and that is to be non-judgemental until you know all the facts.Just because a question does not fit your standards does not stop it being a question.
Seems like the School yard bully in you all came to the fore.

@RSoles: Ask your grandparents whether they would like to be given a tablet. Ask me whether I contribute something useful to society. FAGIN has asked several questions that show no understanding of most of the elderly population and either a naive or cruel bent.

You do have that choice. When you are feeling infirm or useless, have a friend smother you with a pillow or simply jump off a bridge. Everyone can write a formal Health care proxy and living will, laying out his or her choices. Read the Hemlock Society news.

My mother, at 94, wears a bracelet that says Do Not Resussitate. We have copies of the document signed by her primary care physican and there is one on my mother’s refrigerator. However, she is happily eating three squares a day, not learning how to tie the noose knot and laughs at the idea of throwing herself under a bus.

How old are you? How useful are you to society? What have you done for someone else recently?

@gailcalled i refer you to my previous post and i’m happy to hear that your Mother has reached 94yrs.
It’s just a point of view and i think it’s feasible.
Not all old folks are in rude health and some cannot make choices for themselves so maybe some form of declaration when you have all your marbles could fit the bill.

See ^^ Medical /Directives and Health Care Proxy. One does this before he/she are unable to make good choices. Every reputable doctor and every hospital, before admitting a patient, will have him/her fill out the directives.

I repeat; how old are you? How useful are you to society? What have you done for someone else recently.

@gailcalled what evaluation could you come to by my answering the above.

The degree of belligerence, argumentation and doltishness, as three examples.

@gailcalled I don’t care to interact with you as i feel you are spoiling for an argument.

Age is a number and other than that is irrelevant to who a person is and how productive they are in society. In fact I know many older humans who are far more productive than their younger counterparts. IQ is also a number which is apparently irrelevant in some questions.

@RSoles: Indigeo quidam nosco quidam

Wow! if you are indicative of the people on here then i best go elsewhere.
School yard intimidation,i bet your mom would like to get the hell out of here if she knows what sort of ignorant child she brought into this world.
Good day and enjoy wallowing in the bitterness that seems to be your life.Mmmmh

What is with these noobs coming in and bitching all the time about “the way it is here” or whatever other drivel?

Yes, you best went elsewhere, however, I do feel you’ve been here before and will return again.

Here, have an attention cookie ;)

@TaoSan Do you have any non attention whore cookies? Cause I would love one! I’ll trade you for a piece of Polite Pie :)

@dynamicduo If one has a box of non-attention cookies are they invisible? If so I want a box @TaoSan.

It is my guess that Fagan left and came back as RSoles.

Baking right now ladies LOL

@Dog LOGAN’S RUN!!!!!! Got it on AppleTV haha Can’t believe I paid 10 bucks for that old thing, but then, I love the Time Machine too

@chyna I would be surprised if the FAGIN account wasn’t this troll’s first account. Their tone of message really indicates they knew exactly what to write to get ire out of people here, which makes me think it’s one of the trolls that haunts here. Which is so pathetic when you think about it, they’ve chosen to actively anti-participate and be hated instead of either going away or participating fairly… oh well, not my problem, and I love commenting back to them about their stupidity :)

rsoles left.

@dynamicduo And your comments are to them are fun to read. Lurve for them.

Nothing. It’s time to open “leisure camps” and force allow them to die live there.

j/k of course.