BY DAVID WEALE
GUEST OPINION
I have been a senior (over 65) for many years and am getting a little tired of being construed by the rah-rah champions of more-growth capitalism as a liability. You know what I mean, that sing-song mantra of the governing class that our Island economy is in deep shit because we have too many seniors.
It is discriminatory and insulting, and it is wrong: just another of the unbalanced assumptions that flow every day from the high priests of the gospel of more. You know the ones I mean. The ones fixated on the belief that we must do whatever it takes to keep the GDP growing. And one of their conclusions is that having too many seniors works against that and is therefore a sign of a flawed society.
How heartless and cold-blooded is that? And how crass.
It ignores the fact that, for starters, many seniors remain as productive, industrious members of the economy into their seventies and eighties, even nineties. How about a societal analysis that acknowledges, even promotes that?
And, more importantly, it ignores what all healthy societies have known forever, that seniors bring to the culture many gifts that may not have a cash value but are priceless.
It reminds me of the time, years ago, when the then President of the University, Wade MacLauchlan, discontinued the practice of allowing seniors to take courses tuition-free. I was teaching history there at the time and one day, without warning, and without any discussion whatsoever with faculty, we were all simply informed that the practice was terminated.
As a teacher, I was extremely disappointed. Because of the no-tuition policy I almost always had a handful of seniors in my classes and I can’t tell you how they enhanced the process with their presence. For starters, they were among the most interested and attentive students in the classes, and often asked the best questions, based on a lifetime of knowledge and experience.
Further, very often relationships developed between the young students and the seniors; relationships that were mutually beneficial and useful. In a nutshell, it was a lovely and useful tradition, and went on for years, then suddenly it was over.
And why?
Money that’s why. Just another example of what happens when the narrow calculus of profit dominates decision-making to the exclusion of a more holistic understanding of what is necessary to foster a healthy, congenial community – just the way the value of having all those seniors in the classes was callously disregarded.
In the Guardian recently, it was stated that Statistics Canada has made the dire announcement that unless measures are taken Canada, by 2031, could have the proportion of seniors they now have in Japan, where one out of every four citizens is old. Shudder, shudder! What a fate. The grey apocalypse is upon us.
And how are we seniors supposed to feel about that? Well, this senior feels angry. And also a little sad for our greed-driven civilization that has lost its senses, and tossed aside wisdom, on the way to the bank.
- David Weale is a founder of Vision P.E.I.
