SA’s most valuable resources are being put out to pasture

By David Gemmell*

So, what are South Africa's most valuable resources? And why have they been put out to pasture? Our greatest assets are the aged and they have been put out to pasture because they are old.

But imagine if the average person did not retire at age 60/65 – what is, after all, simply culturally entrenched, arbitrary and becoming increasingly meaningless as average lifespan creeps ever upward.

There are about 2.3 million people between 55 and 75 in South Africa (Census 2011). If just a tenth of these worked for another year – I'm purposefully not saying years, because the figures then become so implausible as to be incomprehensible. Given the age parameters – let's say at a generally senior skill level of +-R1 million p a.

Do the sums. This would inject R230 billion per annum into the economy. I am not an economist, so all you anoraks please desist from correcting me. But even if my calculations are suspect, the point is, there is a large economic block being forced into redundancy for no good reason.

Who are the aged? If you look at how some people behave, you could actually begin with some decrepit, old-before-their-time, forty year olds, but I suppose a more rational starting point would be people in their late fifties and older.

And pasture? I am 62 and constantly amazed how often I am treated as if I have half a brain and require who-ever I am dealing with to explain in words of one syllable what is going on. This is always done in a patronisingly 'respectful' tone as if I am a congenital idiot or paradoxically, a child.

Recently at gym I asked the 18-something-year-old-kids working out on the cross bar if I could jump in and do a quick set of pull-ups. 'Sure,' said a muscles-beach with a barely disguised look of contempt on his face. As I got on with my pull-ups they chatted and ignored me. But I realised they had actually been counting when I got to 8 and they turned to watch me.

At 12, my personal best, they started nudging each other and smiling at me in what I hoped was awe. I'm not sure where it came from, probably from having an audience, but I suddenly found I could keep going. When I got to 15, I casually dropped to the floor and muttered loudly to no-one in particular, 'I suppose that's enough for today…'

Muscles-beach couldn't contain himself. He stuck out his arm, gave me a fist pump and shaking his head, said, 'Respect man! Serious respect!! Wow!!!' Now when I see them at gym they all greet me with admiring smiles.

Ok so what's my point? How strong I am? Yip – but also to show how they were making the mistake businesses, government and society at large are making, which is the assumption if someone is old(ish), they are useless. On the contrary, I don't think I have ever been potentially more useful to humanity than I am now. Just as millions of others my age and older are.

Another thing, try and find gainful employment when you are in your fifties or sixties; no one will hire you. And this is not a racist thing. You do hear people complaining how mature whites are being discriminated against, but pay no heed to that black… uh red herring; the discrimination is simply against age. Against people who society has deemed old and therefore incompetent.

So what I want to know is, why people who have gotten rid of the stress and distraction of bringing up children; who have attained some kind of economic independence; have aeons of experience; have become wonderfully wise and have extensive networks, are treated with such disregard?

It is a medical fact your brain works just as well, if not better, as you get older. And muscles?

It has been proven as you age, your strength only diminishes marginally. There are guys older than me pushing weights, doing endurance events and excelling at sport to such an extent, many 30 to 40 year old athletes would gladly give their left legs to be as strong and as good.

Of course like the weather, there is nothing you can do about ageing – it just happens. But getting old is a choice. Bizarrely, many people happily morph into old age prematurely. They choose to do old things. They begin to walk slowly and they talk about their health or lack of it, interminably. They lose shape. They abjure sex. They dress old. They smell.

And therein lies the rub.

Is society at large, far from being gratuitously dismissive of the aged, not just reacting to how the elderly present themselves?

The other day in traffic there was some doddery old fool in the car in front of me who kept hesitating at an intersection where the traffic lights were out. Finally, after missing his turn for the third time, I became exasperated and screamed out the window, 'GO!!! YOU stupid OLD bastard…'

The guy in the vehicle next to me, seeing my grey hair cracked up and yelled at me, 'You're also an old bastard…,' which of course pissed me off even more. 'How much can you bench- press you young prick,' I shouted at him. Silly person. Bet he couldn't press 110 kg. I can.

But I'm sure that's it. Whenever I bump into a grey-haired person I inevitably find someone who has run their race; moves slowly; speaks slowly; complains about everything and at every opportunity indulges in reminiscing about the good times; the tough times or when they were great – take your pick.

How many people have you seen retire from being serious heavy hitting corporate moguls, only to become shadows of their former selves in just months? Why?

There actually is no excuse. Is it simply because so many approaching middle age, stop living young? If this is happening to you, then:

1. Change your attitude to getting older.

How often do we hear people complain about reaching milestones like 40, 50 or 60? Yet, getting old is not a right; it is a privilege. Think of all the people you have known who didn't make it to now. Imagine how keen they would be to swop with you.

2. Take charge of your life.

For some reason as people age they tend to become preoccupied with their health. They hand their well-being over to a myriad of medical practitioners and wallow in their latest ailment as if it is, bizarrely, some sort of achievement. They become victims.

3. Get into shape.

Curiously, with some notable exceptions, for no good reason the elderly stop being active. They may do a token bit of gym – but if you ever closely watch old people exercising – usually so pathetic are their efforts, your immediate response is, 'Why do they bother?' I am not advocating we all do pull-ups (although they are very satisfying) or become body builders. But if you consider it only takes a daily 40 minute walk and eating a bit less to make a real difference, it is not that difficult to keep in shape.

So now, isn't it time us old bastards stopped getting older and started getting organised?

Why don't we unionise and begin flexing our commercial muscles, tapping our wisdom, our extensive networks and collective experience so we can carry on contributing?

Think about it. Instead of becoming social nuisances – with our combined expertise we can develop businesses for aspirant entrepreneurs and create jobs for the masses of unemployed and perhaps even provide life lessons to the youth coming through – my 25 year old son is continually astonished at how much wiser I've got in the few years since he left school.

And what of the institutional memory being lost to this country because the elderly are spurned? Think of all the older people qualified in hundreds of disciplines who could use their experience to benefit so many.

But no. Instead, millions of them are sitting at home reading the paper or watching TV, haemorrhaging time. They are there as either they had to retire or are unemployed because they are deemed to be old – because they act old.

Would we have the debacles we are now experiencing at institutions like Eskom, the Post Office, SAA or in the mining industry to mention but a few, if we had kept and tapped into the experience of the aged? (Don't mention the government, which is a basket case not because of, but despite having lots of elderly people in it.)

Enough said – us old peeps rock and we must start flexing our (metaphoric) muscles. Already one of my friends has decided like the Bryan Adams' song, he will be eighteen till he dies.

Not the most profoundly intellectual of philosophies, but you can't fault his intent.

* David Gemmell wrote the bestseller, Joost:The Man in the Mirror and recently completed Colour Blind Faith, a biography of Father Stan Brennan, the priest who buried Chris Hani. Among other publications he has written for The Star, FM, Business Day, The Weekender, SAWUBONA, Daily Maverick and numerous magazines. In a previous life he was a project manager before quietly morphing into a full-time writer.