-=Dark_Angel=-, P.I.8 Sep 2003

I have to say I agree with you on this one, Joe-joe. Elderlys, once valued and respected pillars of the community, are rapidly mutating into little more than fossilised disableds. Carted off to retirement homes and left to whittle away the rest of their days as mere husks, the question we should all be asking ourselves is "Do they matter?".

Well?

Do they?

As society rots from the inside, and sexual immorality runs wide rife, it would be perverse to answer with anything other than "Good Christ they do matter". Age is something that ought to be revered rather than derided. It is true that the body grows weaker over time - the joints may stiffen, the eyesight may have been squandered through years of televisual input, and, in some cases, the upper epidermis of the grizzled physique may become gnarled beyond belief - but to place the emphasis solely on such deformaties would be to ignore the very essence of senility. In a world were plastics have taken over from the more traditional woods, can we really afford to cast aside the priceless blessings of wisdom, maturity, fosilisation and life-experience that ripen so succulently with age? What are we to do with these hand-me-down relics of retrospective humanity? Toss them aside like used napkins? Good Christ I hope not.

My advice would be to take the time to listen to what they have to say - you might even learn something.

Just remember to keep some napkins handy. Leakages can occur.