Ageism: Oldies vs Youngsters

[Lightspeed]

I’m an older (middle aged) member of this forum, and I’m saddened by the degree of ageism I see on here, day after day.

And I'm embarrassed that its not ageism of the younger generations against us oldies, but the other way around.

Is it just me or has anyone else reflected on how few under 40s are active on here? I’m in my mid-fifties and I’m estimating that more than 70% of folk on here are in my age group, or above.

So why the fuck are us oldies prepping? Frankly we’re genetically past our sell by dates. Our best years are behind us, and ahead we will have to work harder and harder to keep up with the pace, be that technological or physical. Our only assets are accumulated knowledge experience, and wealth.

For me and my wife, there is a single overriding reason for prepping : To provide a safe place for the younger members of our family ( Children and hopefully one day grandchildren) to ride out the worst of any major collapse, and for them to come out the other side in a fit state to participate in whatever renaissance comes to pass. Our role in this is nurture and support. Its an extension of our parenting, if you like.

Its true that, we get advantage from our preps when they are handy to overcome short term disturbance to modern living. But this is just common sense.

Its also true that we enjoy using our little house as a weekend and holiday retreat, and are enjoying the process of configuring it to be able to survive prolonged periods off grid.

We do not see much point in our generation prepping unless it is to ensure the continuation of our DNA in future generations. We can do that by either looking after our children and our children’s children, helping other younger people. Others will have different reasons. I’d be interested to hear what they are?

Some of us in middle age and even more senior age need to remember that we were young once, brimming with ideas on how things could be better done. I know for my part that most of my new ideas were complete rubbish, but some were valid and did indeed improve things. It was my respected, respectful and smart seniors who listened to my crazy ideas, humoured and encouraged me to keep coming up with them, and ultimately helped sort the viable ideas from the wastes of time.

Hopefully I can copy those that had my respect in the past, by encouraging new ideas and helping sift the good ones from the less good.

We can all learn from one another ( certainly I do: for example, almost every day I thank Binnie for his advice on Bump Caps…something I’d never heard of before, but which I wear all the time now. If you were to see the degree of scuffing and denting on mine, you’d realise how much pain I’ve averted thanks to that simple bit of advice. Thanks Bin.)

Ageism and disrespect will get us nowhere. We all want to be respected, but we should not make the mistake in thinking that superior intellect or superior age automatically ensure the respect of others. If we want to be respected we need to do two things. First show respect to others, and secondly to behave in a way that is worthy of others respect.

With respect…. I look forward to comments:-)

[NorthernRaider]

""So why the fuck are us oldies prepping? Frankly we’re genetically past our sell by dates""

Speak for yourself I have a young family / extended family to cater to for plus I'm the head of the family now so regardless of age I have a moral obligation to prep as well as I can, and also to pass on the skills I have learned to my younger family members.

You can feel free to sit and wait for god, but I will strive to support and equip my family until my last breath.

[Midnitemo]

I echo lightspeeds sentiments entirely

[bigpaul]

typical modern a...licking at its best LS, you cannot help other people if they don't want to be helped, if they think they are right all the time and everyone else is talking BS. they are right(they think) and everyone else is wrong. I prep cos I intend to survive, not for you, not for the next generation, for me so I can go on living when everything else has gone to hell in a handcart around me, and all these people that said I was crazy, the ones that rely on the latest mobile phone, the latest tablet or whatever else its called, they have all gone the way of the do-do.

[Lightspeed]

NR, you're definitely past it mate... or at least your eyes are :-)

Polish up your specs and read what I wrote again :-)

[NorthernRaider]

Well you did forget to mention how we older more mature guys are much better lovers than the kiddies under 30

[Binnie]

There is a little age discrimination on here, thankfully it mostly comes from a single source.

i come here to learn and share my experiences, not to be dictated to.

I'll continue to frequent this forum as long as its online.

PS you are welcome about the bump cap thing

[Lightspeed]

BP,

When I was a teenager my father knew F*** all about anything....... by the time I was 25 years old he hadn't half learned a lot.

When we are young and full of beans, we all thought we knew best.

Some of us grew out of it, and some will stay the same until they drop.

[bigpaul]

OK, so I'm a different generation to most of you lot, I'm not blinded by all this "Political Correctness" crap, I say it how I see it and I call a spade a spade, call it outspokeness if you like, but its who I am and I cannot change now, so if it offends some people then so be it. by the way, its my birthday today, not that I expect anyone to give a shit about that.

[Lightspeed]

(12 April 2014, 11:11)NorthernRaider Wrote: Well you did forget to mention how we older more mature guys are much better lovers than the kiddies under 30

We agree on that at least NR.

I have just asked Mrs LS to confirm, but she tells me that its hard for her to give an accurate appraisal of my performance, as she's always asleep by the time I reach the finishing line......

---

(12 April 2014, 11:16)bigpaul Wrote: OK, so I'm a different generation to most of you lot, I'm not blinded by all this "Political Correctness" crap, I say it how I see it and I call a spade a spade, call it outspokeness if you like, but its who I am and I cannot change now, so if it offends some people then so be it. by the way, its my birthday today, not that I expect anyone to give a shit about that.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOU GRUMPY OLD GIT!!!