Singular life

Age before duty

Petronella Wyatt

hat has happened to the present generation? What has gone wrong? What- ever it is, it is an absolute disgrace. Past governments should be ashamed of them- selves for allowing such a situation to develop while sitting by and doing nothing. I am referring, of course, to the present generation of elderly people.

I was flying to Rome a few weeks ago When the gravity of the matter first insinu- ated itself. I had just boarded the flight and was struggling to place a heavy bag in one of the overhead lockers. Standing behind me was a man of about 59 or 60. In every respect he was stronger and fitter than I. He had shoulders like the Parthenon. He resembled a brdnzed, living statue. (What with improved diet and medicine and so forth, it's amazing how well old people look these days.) As I was saying, this man was standing there watching me battle with the bag. The bag, it was clear, was winning. Eventually I turned around and said most politely, Excuse me, but would you be awfully kind and help me with this?'

The response the plea elicited was a metaphorical kick in the teeth. The man grimaced through clenched, expensively capped and bleached teeth. He snarled, You must be out of your mind. I'm not insured against that kind of thing.' Not insured? Insured against what kind of thing? He was quick enough to elucidate. I'm not insured against injury from lifting heavy objects.' He added, for bad measure, Hurry up. You're blocking the aisle.' One has to say — and one does so with great sadness — that this is not the first time this sort of thing has happened. For years, elderly people have shown signs of Increasing churlishness, moral delinquency and even, on occasion, violence. Their lan- guage can be quite foul. What people learn these days on grandmother's knee is hardly repeatable in public. There is a lost generation of over-fifties. They cannot relate to the rest of contem- porary society. They establish cliques among themselves. They have their own sub-cultures. They are alarmingly selfish and bereft of community feeling. Travelling back to London on the train from Gatwick airport I encountered anoth- er example of this social epidemic. This time, I asked an airport steward to help me put a large suitcase on the train. I was late and in danger of missing it altogether. The steward appeared to be in his sixties and none the worse for wear. He refused point blank to give me any assistance.

He stared at me in the most hostile man- ner and whined, 'What about my back?'

What about his back? 'I'm going to miss the train if I don't get this suitcase on. Please will you help me?'

`No, I won't. I tell you, I'll put my back out. It's your fault. You shouldn't travel with such a large piece of luggage.'

I am afraid I lost my temper.

`Look here. You're twice my size. You're a big strong man.' (Yes, God forgive me, I did say that.) 'How can you not help me? Have you no manners at all?'

His reaction to this well-deserved lecture was to answer in the affirmative.

`Why should I help you? F— off.'

The trouble with these old people, one supposes, is that there are too many of them about and they don't have enough to do. Because of increasing longevity they are spending whole decades living off the rest of society and, in the meantime, pick- ing up atrocious habits.

It wasn't like this in the past: 200, 100 years ago people in their sixties, seventies and even eighties were gainfully employed. Sometimes, like Gladstone, they were prime minister. Sometimes, like General Blucher, they led armies into battle, fell off their horses and remounted virtually unscathed. Sometimes, like Dr Johnson, they produced dictionaries, or, like Goethe, they wrote great poems.

Why don't they do these things now? Why are there so few people in public life above the age of 50? The conclusion is inescapable. What this older generation needs is a war. That would shake them up a bit. They've never had it so good but they are totally unappreciative of their fortune. Fifty years ago most of them would have been dead.

A bit of action would make a world of difference to their mental and physical lethargy. Perhaps the government should bring back national service for the over-six- ties. What we need to see once more are serried ranks of disciplined, public-spirited old people with manners.

A curfew might be another panacea. The increase in over-age drinking is quite shocking. Wherever you go in London these days, particularly after dark, you fall over drunken old people making a vulgar nuisance of themselves. Whatever hap- pened to their being in bed by 11 o'clock with an improving book and a mug of Hor- licks? Whatever happened to growing old with dignity?

Back in the 1930s, when Cole Porter wrote 'Anything Goes' he included a satiri- cal line about grandmothers who went to nightclubs. Audiences laughed because no one believed such a thing could happen. Now it's we younger people who have to work , hard to support the decadent lifestyles of our parents and grandparents.