In many cultures the elderly are highly respected, In the UK its frequently the opposite as this thread clearly demonstrates.
In many cultures the elderly are highly respected, In the UK its frequently the opposite as this thread clearly demonstrates.
In many cultures the elderly are highly respected, In the UK its frequently the opposite as this thread clearly demonstrates.
Maybe because they're so expensive to keep! Bus passes, healthcare, state pension. And for what? To prolong the inevitable.
The amount of my thirty something friends who say "I wish they'd pop off" in respect of their elderly parents is staggering.
I do not wish to be a burden on my family whenI become that age
Maybe because they're so expensive to keep! Bus passes, healthcare, state pension. And for what? To prolong the inevitable.
The amount of my thirty something friends who say "I wish they'd pop off" in respect of their elderly parents is staggering.
I do not wish to be a burden on my family whenI become that age
The amount of my thirty something friends who say "I wish they'd pop off" in respect of their elderly parents is staggering.
In many cultures the elderly are highly respected, In the UK its frequently the opposite as this thread clearly demonstrates.
Greenback said:It's the cycle of life.
It is, but I think this is actually where a lot of the resentment comes from.
The "baby boomer" generation have been incredibly privileged throughout their life, starting with free higher education and excellent final salary pensions right through to free bus passes and free TV licences.
Instead of accepting that these are privileges, all we hear is bleating about how everything is "unfair" and how there's "no respect for our elders". The free bus pass, introduced barely a decade ago, is seen as a right that they have "earned". Every time the Government suggests that wealthy pensioners ought to pay towards their own social care there's an outcry about how it's a "disgrace". SYPTE are asking old people to pay something towards the cost of the train services they want to use and the "freedom ride" protesters think they're Rosa Parks, bravely fighting injustice where they see it.
These privileges are now being paid for, in full, by today's working age adults.
If today's working age adults thought that there was the slightest chance of getting the same privileges, there wouldn't be an issue. But we know there isn't. A woman of my generation will now be retiring at least seven years later than someone who was born in 1945. Our pension contributions are higher than they were for the "baby boomers", we'll be paying contributions for potentially ten years more than the "baby boomers" and the pension we receive will be lower- "career average" rather than final salary. My household income is in the top 20% in the country yet buying a house in the town I live is only a pipe dream.
We're in a situation where today's working age adults are paying through the nose for privileges they will never see, for people who seem inherently ungrateful for the benefits they have received and are continuing to receive.
Respect is earned. You don't earn respect by throwing your toys out of the pram like a spoiled toddler when you don't get your own way. You don't earn respect by treating every privilege as a God-given right. The "freedom ride" protestors are doing exactly that.
What I object to is the notion that old people cost too much, that they should be dead and we that they are a burden on society.
Comparing generation to generation is ultimately pointless, and I wish both sides would just accept that things are the way they are, fair or not.
Definitely, the idea of anyone sitting down and believing that they are a "burden" is heartbreaking. The idea that anyone thinks someone else is a "burden" is disgusting.
Some services are burdensome, but that's not the same thing at all.
I don't think there's much chance of that. These protestors are whingeing about how "they've paid tax all their life" and that they "deserve" a free bus pass because the free bus pass was a "promise" from the Government.
For many pensioners, they'd retired before the free bus pass was even invented, so to now protest it as a "right" is utterly ridiculous.
For my part, I accept that things are unlikely to change. My works pension scheme has a huge deficit, and at some point someone is going to have to pay for that. It'll probably be me. I don't blame people who are taking the pensions they're entitled to.
What I do object to is the "poor me" attitude we see so often from baby boomers who didn't "fight in a war", despite what they claim. A bit of gratitude wouldn't go amiss.
does anyone actually know what period the baby boom covers? I used to think that I was in the range (1960) but ISTR that it finished earlier
I think this may be getting lost in translation a little, as a kid I was taught by my parents to respect my elders out of basic politeness and decency, I was also taught, as a male, to show respect to females as in offering my seat, opening doors etc, I was taught to show respect by not effing and blinding in public, to show respect to a police officer, to my work colleagues and managers
I see the modern world as almost devoid of any respect whatsoever, so why pick out pensioners as being 'privileged' ?
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The "baby boomer" generation have been incredibly privileged throughout their life, starting with free higher education and excellent final salary pensions right through to free bus passes and free TV licences.
I guess that these generational gaps and all these misconceptions on both sides come about simply because how you grow up is really formative in what your standards are when it comes to living/morals/quality of life etc. The world now is very different from how it was in 1960, but that doesn't mean that attitudes always change with it.
The thing is, if you spent your whole life in a welfare state and (from the point of view of today's youth) being very privileged, it's a bit of a shock when it's all taken away. Combined with rose-tinted glasses about how things used to be, I can totally understand how older people might be more than a bit miffed when the younger generations complain at them and try to take away what they see as the bare minimum. When you've had something all your life it's a bit harsh when it's taken away from you, even if it's by someone who never had that. I mean, I doubt any of us would be happy moving to live a rural Chinese peasant lifestyle on the justification that many people in sub-Saharan Africa have it even worse. It's all relative, and your standards are set by what you're used to. Over your lifetime, though, they tend to be pretty solidified by the time you're around 20 for various reasons that aren't totally understood. Regardless of why it happens however, this is a well-known and extremely common phenomenon.
That all being said, there must be a way to communicate the fact to pensioners that it is not their God-given right to have all this stuff when the country is in trouble, especially when things will only become more expensive as the baby boomers get older, more infirm and generally more work to take care of. Whilst this will subside by around 2035, it's still a very long time to be spending far more on pensions than we can really afford. It's a very difficult balance to strike.
With regards to people respecting their elders though, I'm with those who say respect should be earned. I may have a little more automatic respect for those older than me when it comes to learning, but that's only because it's more likely that they'll know more than me/be more experienced. Unless someone's disabled or otherwise in need, though, there's no way I'm prioritising them over anyone else when it comes to something like holding doors open, going the extra mile to help etc: they get the same treatment as everyone else.
Could someone clarify why elderly people are automatically deserving of respect? That is what the question posed in the title suggests and I'm unclear why they should garner respect automatically when no other group appears to hold such a privilege?
I think this may be getting lost in translation a little, as a kid I was taught by my parents to respect my elders out of basic politeness and decency, I was also taught, as a male, to show respect to females as in offering my seat, opening doors etc, I was taught to show respect by not effing and blinding in public, to show respect to a police officer, to my work colleagues and managers
I see the modern world as almost devoid of any respect whatsoever, so why pick out pensioners as being 'privileged' ?
Because people have different standards of what's considered polite these days, and we tend to remember incidents when people go against what we like because they stand out a lot more. Lots of what was considered polite 50 years ago is now seen as sycophantic, patronising or just plain annoying. (I don't mean saying please and thank you - I mean stuff like offering your seat, insisting on holding open doors even if they don't really want it etc.)
But really, there's a difference between respecting someone in the way you should respect anyone, and respecting someone by going above and beyond for them. I don't see why most people should get the former, but older people should get the latter as well. I think most people in the OPs camp are thinking in the former way (i.e. should they get any respect at all?), and most people against are thinking in the latter way (i.e. why should they get more respect than anyone else?).
Perhaps we should look across economic strata rather than generational ones? The working age poor and elderly poor have more in common than with the rich of any age. The elderly don't deserve these things as a matter of simply having avoided death for long enough but because they've contributed to society (for the most part). Those people who have retired helped pay for my education and other benefits children get, what we should be paying for them and for our own future is being skimmed off the top by the richest in society - perhaps our ire should be directed at them?
Respect has to be earned. I've seen elderly people who do not deserve respect just as I've seen younger people who are incredibly polite and vice versa.
I've read the whole thread and am a bit confused by what some posters mean by 'respect'.
I'm not entirely sure what the whole thread is getting at to be honest.
In the thread linked to, we have two pensioners that broke the law, and have been subsequently charged. It's got nothing to do with respect as far as I can see.
The initial premise as others have said was flawed. Although in some societies with much lower life expectations old age may still warrant respect (for being old).In many cultures the elderly are highly respected, In the UK its frequently the opposite as this thread clearly demonstrates.