Old People…

…can be a right royal pain in the ass. I know this because of previous experience and having attained the level of joining the nation’s old people.

We can be critical and self righteous about the youth of today and the way their lives are being moulded for the future, and about their behaviour and habits which are, in reality, no worse than when I was a kid. Relatively speaking.

When I was young , I would often hear the phrase, “I wish I was your age again”, being spoken in envy of the lifestyles which we enjoyed back then. I don’t hear that phrase so often these days and I’m fairly certain that I would never use the phrase myself, after witnessing the kind of world that we are bringing our children into. The saving grace in this is that that they are totally unaware, as are most adults, although the information is readily available for those who are interested. Therein lies the problem. No one is interested, because they are distracted by myriad other attractions. But they still complain and ask “Why didn’t someone do something about this ?” after significant events have taken place without their knowledge. And in my opinion this is completely what is intended by those in office.

So when we old people moan all the time about the state of the nation, it is out of genuine concern for the future of our offspring. Its because, contrary to popular belief, we weren’t born this age. We had to go through all the angst ridden years of childhood and teens also. So, we have these times to look back on and the ability to compare with what we see today. And what I see doesn’t make for a pretty picture.

Although I had problems in my life while growing up, it was relatively carefree time and I was able to go out an enjoy the world. Everything that I used to do for free, you now have to pay for. All the outdoor pursuits we used to enjoy are now restricted by the spending power of the individual and the loss of personal credibility if you are unable to match the equipment sported by your more affluent “friends”. I never knew that pressure. If we wanted to swim, we swam in the sea without lifeguards or buoyancy aids and no one drowned. If we wanted to go climbing, we did so with mad abandon and none of the safety equipment which is deemed necessary before you go further than three feet from earth. If you had the misfortune to fall then you took the consequences which usually amounted to a few bruises. In short, we knew fun.

We old people have the benefit of hindsight to be able to ascertain that the way our children are growing up today is totally unnatural. I had no experience of armed personnel in all transport hubs or on our streets. I knew my local policemen. They took part in local activities and joined in the social events of the area. And in those days they held the respect of the public. Nowadays they are anonymous beings who drive past in their fancy cars and are never otherwise seen. The first I knew of violence against political figures was when JFK was murdered and it was a tragic event, even for we kids in the UK, who held him in high regard, although we had only seen him occasionally on television. Years later I find that he may have been murdered for what he knew rather than for who he was. Wars were things which only happened occasionally, and if there was one, we would win it anyway.

We are being denied media coverage of what is really going on elsewhere in the world, in case we get any funny ideas. The revolution against the government and bankers in Iceland recently is a case in point of the low level media coverage that these events are being given. I feel that America may be slowly coming round to awareness thanks to people like Alex Jones and Christopher Greene. I’ve also had the privilege of watching some George Carlin videos recently in which he makes all the salient points which are critical today but because of his satirical approach, I think that the points might have been missed by those it was intended for.

The main point I’m trying to make here is that the world today “IS NOT NORMAL”. That there is a better way of life to be had. This requires awareness and I don’t feel I would be doing my job as a member of the old people clan if I didn’t try to make , at least, one other person aware of this.

The phrases “survival of the fittest” and “knowledge is power” spring to mind when I think about this subject. Imagine that a dozen people were told they were being sent to a beautiful island in the middle of the ocean for a week and to prepare for this. Some would buy all the latest sun accoutrements and make sure they had loads of beer and snacks. A couple of others would do a bit of research and find out that there was an alligator swamp in the middle of the island and would equip themselves suitably to deal with this eventuality. The remainder would just go along for the ride and see what happened. As one would expect , the sun lovers got eaten by alligators on the first day. What was left of the apathetic group swiftly joined the others, who, because they had taken the trouble to make themselves aware and arm themselves with knowledge of the area, survived the whole week and returned to their previous lives.

How do you make people aware apart word of mouth? The press? Not these days unfortunately. The facts are all available to everyone. And that means facts from both sides of the argument. Its just that certain facts are given more exposure than others and a lot depends who is stating the facts. A government official’s or celebrity endorsement of a fact should lend credibility to a “fact” but as Brexit showed, this isn’t always the case. Both sides of the argument and what is known about events should be represented fairly. If that were the case, the aforementioned Alex Jones and Christopher Greene would be in the House of Representatives. But in order to find the other side of an issue , one has to dig very deeply to find it, and that should not be the case.

Old people are a right royal pain in the ass, as I mentioned earlier. But I don’t see anything wrong with being genuinely concerned and urging people to scrape away the veneer and have a look at what lies below. Then, to make up their own minds when they are fully aware of the situation.

SoberVision

more to come…