See two attachments
Longevity Rules: Editor: Stuart Greenbaum; PLiblisher: Eskaton 2010
-,
ELDERTOPIA
1—- William H. Thomas, M.D.
O
ur longevity is an ancient thing. It came into being long before
the beginning of recorded history and it is intrinsic to the ex-
perience of being human. Longevity is also a matter of urgent
contemporary concern. We live in world where influential voices
claim that humanity’s flourishing longevity is actually a disaster in
the making. A string of aging- related economic and cultural catastro-
phes are forecast to descend upon us all.
I do not tremble before the “Senior Tsunami:’ It is much more fun
(and useful) to celebrate the fact that we are entering into history’s
most elder-rich era. From the beginning, human elderhood has been
protected, sustained and nurtured because it serves vital human
interests. Old age exists today only because thousands of generations
of our ancestors found it to be useful. Our unique pattern of
longevity – we are the only creature capable of living so far beyond the
period ofreproductive maturity – now lies at the core of our humanity.
Alone among all other creatures, we benefit from a stage of life that
extends beyond adulthood. For millennia, our ancestors have
William H. Thomas, M.D. is the grandson of Olive, Durwood, Vivian and William. He is also
a farmer, novelist, teamster, musician and geriatrician. An innovator in the aging field,
he is the founder of the Eden Alternative and the Green House Project; and author of
numerous books including What Are Old People For? How Elders Will Save the World.
He currently serves a professor of the practice of aging studies at the University of
Maryland’s Erickson School. His approach to the new culture of aging can be followed on
his blog at www.changingaging.org.
Longevity Rules: Editor: Stuart Greenbaum; Publisher: Eskaton 2010
150 WILLIAM H. THOMAS, M.D.
understood elderhood to be as distinct from adulthood as adulthood
is from childhood.
Life in a modern industrial society makes it difficult to embrace, or
even imagine, our own elderhood. We liveunder the sway ofa ravenous
worldwide addiction to the virtues of adulthood, which, not
coincidentally, also reinforces the idea of old age as tired, worn and
uniformly undesirable. Old people as individuals may be laudable,
but as a group they have been redefined as useless appendages to
human society.
Advocates for the aged work to promote the vision of a society
wherein the aged are elevated to a status equal to that accorded to the
young, forgetting that the strength of elderhood lies in how radically
different from adulthood it is. This dismissal of elderhood is an epic
error on par ‘with a rejection of fire-making and the wheel.
Adulthood~
Birth Death
This figure depicts the intergenerational transmission of culture
and assistance.
A. Support provided to elders by adults
B. Assistance elders give to adults
C. Gentling and acculturation of children by elders
D. Assistance and affection given to elders by children
E. Participation in work of adults by children
F. Food, shelter, clothing and affection provided to children by adults
ELDERTOPIA 15′
The diagram offers a schematic representation of the engine thai
has powered human cultural advancement for tens of thousands ol
years. It has shaped us, served us, blunted our worst tendencies and
magnified our best. Given the terrible might of modern industrial
society, it would seem that we need this engine more than ever before.
Instead, we are witness to the rise ofan “anti-aging” movement – which
continues to claim, despite all evidence to the contrary, that technology
will soon make old age a thing of the past. Deep down, most people
understand that aging is an inevitable part of life.What confounds us
is the question, “What are old people for?”
Former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm adopted the classic
“aging is a disaster” (for the young) perspective in his essay, “The
Moral Imperative of Limiting Elderly Entitlements:’ He writes, “One of
the great challenges in America’s future is to retire the Baby Boomers
without bankrupting the country or unduly burdening future
generations … Age could well be as divisive in the next forty years:’
What is missing here is an accounting. of what elderhood
contributes to society. This side of the ledger is regularly ignored by
those who believe an Iron Curtain exists between the wealth and vigor
of adults and the ruinous burden that age imposes on the young.
Lamm goes on to declare, “We are a compassionate society and we
can afford a lot, but we cannot afford everything. No publicly financed
health system can ignore the law of diminishing returns … It is
necessary to find, among the myriad of things that we can do, what
practically in a budget we ought to do:’
Old people become expensive accessories and, while we may be a
“compassionate society:’ there is a limit to what we can do for them.
What we need is a radical interpretation of longevity that properly
values elders (and their needs) as being essential to our collective
pursuit of happiness and well-being. It should not come as a surprise
Longevity Rules: Editor: Stuart Greenbaum; Publisher: Eskaton 2010
152 WILLIAM H. THOMAS, M.D.
that our language lacks a word that describes the interdependence
that joins young and old. The wisdom of living in a multigenerational
social structure is ancient, undeniable and deserving of a word of its
own. I like “Eldertopia”
Eldertopia / ell-der-TOli-pee-uh / noun -A community that
improves the quality of life for people of all ages by strengthening
and improving the means by which (1) the community protects,
sustains, and nurtures its elders, and (2) the elders contribute to
the well- being and foresight of the community. An Eldertopia that
is blessed with a large number of older people is acknowledged to
be “elder-rich” and uses this richness to the advantage of all.
Our longevity exists, has meaning and creates value because it
provides human beings with a mechanism for improving the lives of
people of all ages. Far from being society’s expensive leftovers, elders
and the elderhood they inhabit are crucial to the functioning ofhealthy
human societies. vVetabulate the money spent serving the elderly to
the penny but fail to appreciate the vital contributions that our
longevity makes to society as a whole. We need a new and much more
accurate system of accounting.
The pursuit of Elder topia can lead us with a better understanding
ofhow 1ongevity completes us. tor a start, it can illuminate the complex
and easily overlooked intergenerational transfers that are essential to
people of all ages. The “greedy geezer” stereotype can be seen as the
inevitable product of a society that measures only the assistance the
young grant to the old. Giving proper due to the contributions elders
make to the young undermines anti-old age prejudice. Understood in
their proper context, elders and elderhood can be seen as the best
investment human beings have ever made.
ELDERTOPIA 153
So,what are old people for?They are the glue that binds us together
as human beings. We need elders because we need families,
congregations, neighborhoods and communities. Weneed Eldertopia
because old age is a precious gift, one honed over the centuries. It
exists to connect us with our past, and to our future. !@J
