Roger Harty: Why I Like The Term ‘Elderly’

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THE government had a tricky job recently, whereby because of all this Covid Virus business, they had to act quickly and segregate the older generation from the rest.

Quick action meant that they had no time for petty nuances and they defined the older generation (i.e. those over 70 years of age) as the elderly population.

They could have used terms like senior citizens, old age pensioners, etc, etc but they chose the term elderly and I must say, I like it.

Why I like it requires a little further exploration.

First and foremost, the sound of the name ‘Elderly’ rings well with me I find that somehow important and also interesting.

Why I ask you? Well for me when I hear the term ‘Elderly’ it somehow generates a certain amount of respect.

Respect for our older generation is paramount and using the term elderly in my opinion reflects that.

In many countries around the world, especially in the continent of Africa the elderly population are held in the highest of esteem. This is rightly so and only as it should be.

Man is a creature of habit and therefore tends to repeat the same successes and failures down through the ages. The trick is to embrace our successes but also more importantly learn from our failures.

In order to do this we should pay great respect and regard to what our elders are saying for two main reasons.

1. They have lived through many of the difficulties before, thus they have learned from their own experience.

2. They in turn have learned in the past from their own elders and thus can continue to pass that wisdom down through the generations.

There is a group of very distinguished elderly people who gather on a regular basis in order to give their sage and experience to serious world affairs.

This group was formed as a result of a brainchild suggestion of entrepreneur Richard Branson and musical artist Peter Gabriel.

In involves people of the character the likes of Nelson Mandela RIP, Ban Ki-moon  and our very own Mary Robinson, among others.

Their vision is, I quote; “Our vision is of a world where people live in peace, conscious of their common humanity and their shared responsibilities for each other, for the planet and for future generations.”

I’m sure a lot of thought and expertise went into the formation and suggestion of a worthy name for this distinguished gathering of people.

What was the best name they could come up with? ‘The Elders’.

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