Letter From The Other Side from Cynthia.

Baby Boomers Take Blame Again.

Dear Del,

This letter to you is not the only one I have written this week.
Usually when politicians are making observations and pronouncements I try to stay calm but not this week.

This week we were told our country will have to work harder and people will now be required to delay their retirements for a further few years in order to pay the overburdened economy as it struggles to afford the ageing baby-boomers.

Evidently our population must explode and triple during the decades ahead.
I seem to be having my toes crushed by groups of young women pushing baby carriages wherever I go, so I think on the whole the fecundity of our young is quite sufficient thank you very much. Especially as I hear other people complaining about the over crowding of the schools and the amount of money parents are paid by the government for producing the occupants of the schools and prams by doing what came naturally to all the former generations who were never paid for the effort.

Our grandparents were told to ‘populate or perish’ following WW1, our parents and the thousands of immigrants who arrived during the 1950’s and 60’s made up for the years of WW11 and we were all the result.

Our most sincere apologies to our younger folk and to all the people who follow us, we didn’t set out to get older or really mean to, it just somehow happened as they will find in time when it happens to them.

A decade ago when we were still in the workforce we were being castigated by the then government into feel guilty for ‘taking the working places that the young people needed’. We were urged to finish careers with early retirement or made to feel so doddery that our working hours were soured by the decidedly unpleasant treatment of our upwardly mobile younger colleagues.

Much of the skilled work force, the teachers, the nurses and other professionals and tradesmen retired with very small pensions because the idea of superannuation or superannuation pension funds had not been introduced until we were half way through our working lives and therefore we had little time to build up a nest egg which would sustain us in our later years.

Now, once again it is the older ones getting the blame for the country’s woes and being forced to stay in work longer.

I suppose walking frames will be handy if we have to work as shelf stockers and walking sticks are useful if we need to become law enforcement agents of any kind. We could trip the bandits up instead of having to chase them. I hope they contemplate giving extra toilet breaks in consideration of some our aging plumbing problems.

I know I am exaggerating but only a little because I do feel aggrieved after working for almost forty-eight years, always paying my taxes and always putting a little of my spare time back into our community. Those who follow us will be forced to remain at work longer, supposedly by learning new skills.

It would be nice if some of our younger folk could put the time and effort into learning any skill at all. Perhaps they could start by finding what it is like to get out of bed before noon. The next logical thing perhaps would be to wash, not just their bodies but even their clothes. It might be an innovative and novel idea which could appeal to some.

Older people already form part of a vast army of volunteer workers in the community (which save the various government bodies an enormous amount) and many are still supporting, ill or physically disabled children or spouses. Which again saves the rest of the community taxes. Others our age of course have dissolute children who are too lazy or greedy to leave home and make a living for themselves.

Even Uncle Rodger helps the widows at the retirement village with their investments and tax problems and could at 94 still teach some of the young suits in the city quite a lot. Although, I have to admit I think the bank staff when forewarned by his deep voice booming along the pathway as he approaches their doors, quickly draw straws over which member is to deal with him. However I doubt that has much to do with his age it is a lifetime’s characteristic I think.

Once more our generation is being blamed for the hospital crowding. Nothing is mentioned about the lack of hospital funding and the duplication of health administrations.
There seems to be a bottomless pit of money available to build monuments to sport and the parliamentarians who authorize them, but when money is needed for caring for the mentally ill, the aged, the dental systems etc, etc it isn’t there because we oldies are evidently using it all up.
The unfortunate thing for us is we shall not live to see how these same theorists and decision makers who retire with enormous bonuses and pensions fair when they leave office as they age. Although of course, because of their guaranteed pensions, they will be able to afford to pay for lying about in private nursing homes on the Gold Coast…that is of course, if the Gold Coast hasn’t been washed away by the rising sea levels by then.

Oh dear, I’ll try to be cheerier in my next letter.
Your old grumpy flower child friend,
Cynthia.